Digitized  by 

the  Internet  Archive 

in  2014 

https://archive.org/details/memoirsofearlyitOOjame_0 


MEMOIRS 

OF  THE 

EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 

BY 

MRS.  JAMESON. 

FROM   THE  LAST   LONDON  EDITION. 


BOSTON: 
JAMES  R.  OSGOOD  AND  COMPANY, 

Late  Ticknor  &  Fields,  and  Fields,  Osgood,  &  Co. 

1875. 


CONTENTS. 


PA  OB 

GIOVANNI  CIMABUB  7 

GIOTTO  25 

LORENZO  GHIBEETI  .  64 

MASACCIO  75 

FILIPPO  LIPPI  AND  ANGELICO  DA  FIESOLE  84 

BENOZZO  GOZZOLI  95 

ANDREA  CASTAGNO  AND  LXJCA  SIGNO BELLI  102 

DOMENICO  DAL  GHIRLANDAJO  106 

ANDREA  MANTEGNA  113 

THE  BELLINI  134 

PIETRO  PERUGINO  141 

FRANCESCO  RAIBOLINI,  CALLED  IL  FRANCIA  ....  149 
FRA  BARTOLOMEO,  CALLED  ALSO  BACCIO  DELLA  PORTA 

AND  IL  FRATE  159 

LIONARDO  DA  VINCI  170 

MICHAEL  ANGELO  191 

ANDREA  DEL  SARTO  223 

RAPHAEL  SANZIO  D'URBINO  228 

(5) 


VI  CONTENTS. 

PAOB 

THE  SCHOLARS  OF  RAPHAEL  280 

CORREGGIO  AND  GIORCUONE,  AND  THEIR  SCHOLARS     .  290 

PARMIOIANO  302 

GIORGIONE  310 

TITIAN  319 

TINTORETTO  339 

PAUL  VERONESE  •  •  347 

JACOrO  BASSANO   860 


MEMOIRS 

OF  THE 

EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


GIOVANNI  CIMABUE, 

Born  at  Florence,  1240  ;  died  about  1302. 

To  Cimabue  for  three  centuries  had  been  awarded 
the  lofty  title  of  "  Father  of  Modern  Painting  ;  " 
and  to  him,  on  the  authority  of  Vasari,  had  been 
ascribed  the  merit,  or  rather  the  miracle,  of  having 
revived  the  art  of  painting  when  utterly  lost,  dead 
and  buried  ;  —  of  having  by  his  single  genius  brought 
light  out  of  darkness,  form  and  beauty  out  of  chaos. 
The  error  or  gross  exaggeration  of  Vasari  in  making 
these  claims  for  his  countryman  has  been  pointed 
out  by  later  authors.  Some  have  even  denied  to 
Cimabue  any  share  whatever  in  the  regeneration 
of  art;  and,  at  all  events,  it  seems  clear  that  his 
claims  have  been  much  over-stated ;  that,  so  far 
from  painting  being  a  lost  art  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  and  the  race  of  artists  annihilated,  as  Va- 

(7) 


8 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTELS. 


Bari  would  lead  us  to  believe,  several  contemporary 
painters  were  living  and  working  in  the  cities  and 
churches  of  Italy  previous  to  1240 ;  and  it  is 
possible  to  trace  back  an  uninterrupted  series  of 
pictorial  remains  and  names  of  painters  even  to 
the  fourth  century.  But,  in  depriving  Cimabue 
of  his  false  glories,  enough  remains  to  interest 
and  fix  attention  on  the  period  at  which  he  lived. 
His  name  has  stood  too  long,  too  conspicuously, 
too  justly,  as  a  landmark  in  the  history  of  art,  to 
be  now  thrust  back  under  the  waves  of  oblivion. 
A  rapid  glance  over  the  progress  of  painting 
before  his  time  will  enable  us  to  judge  of  his  true 
claims,  and  place  him  in  his  true  position  relative 
to  those  who  preceded  and  those  who  followed 
him. 

The  early  Christians  had  confounded,  in  their 
horror  of  heathen  idolatry,  all  imitative  art  and  all 
artists.  They  regarded  with  decided  hostility  all 
images,  and  those  who  wrought  them  as  bound  to 
the  service  of  Satan  and  heathenism ;  and  we  find 
all  visible  representations  of  sacred  personages  and 
actions  confined  to  mystic  emblems.  Thus,  the 
Cross  signified  Redemption  ;  the  Fish,  Baptism  ;  th8 
Ship  represented  the  Church  ;  the  Serpent,  Sin,  or 
the  Spirit  of  Evil.  When,  in  the  fourth  century, 
the  struggle  between  paganism  and  Christianity 
ended  in  the  triumph  and  recognition  of  the  latter, 
and  art  revived,  it  was,  if  not  in  a  new  form,  in  a 
new  spirit,  by  which  the  old  forms  were  to  be 


GIOVANNI  CIM  A.BUE. 


9 


gradually  moulded  and  modified.  The  Christians 
found  the  shell  of  ancient  art  remaining ;  the  tra- 
ditionary handicraft  still  existed  ;  certain  models 
of  figure  and  drapery,  &c,  handed  down  from 
antiquity,  though  degenerated  and  distorted,  re- 
mained in  use,  and  were  applied  to  illustrate,  by 
direct  or  symbolical  representations,  the  tenets  of 
a  purer  faith.  From  the  beginning,  the  figures 
selected  to  typify  our  redemption  were  those  of  the 
Saviour  and  the  Blessed  Virgin,  first  separately,  and 
then  conjointly  as  the  Mother  and  Infant.  The 
earliest  monuments  of  Christian  art  remaining  are 
to  be  found,  nearly  effaced,  on  the  walls  and  ceil- 
ings of  the  catacombs  at  Rome,  to  which  the  perse- 
cuted martyrs  of  the  faith  had  fled  for  refuge.  The 
first  recorded  representation  of  the  Saviour  is  in  the 
character  of  the  Good  Shepherd,  and  the  attributes 
of  Orpheus  and  Apollo  were  borrowed  to  express 
the  character  of  him  who  "  redeemed  souls  from 
hell,"  and  "gathered  his  people  like  sheep."  In 
the  cemetery  of  St.  Calixtus,  at  Rome,  a  head  of 
Christ  was  discovered,  the  most  ancient  of  which 
any  copy  has  come  down  to  us.  The  figure  is  co- 
lossal ;  the  face  a  long  oval ;  the  countenance  mild, 
grave,  melancholy  ;  the  long  hair  parted  on  the 
brow,  falling  in  two  masses  on  either  shoulder  ;  the 
beard  not  thick,  but  short  and  divided.  Here, 
then,  obviously  imitated  from  some  traditional  de- 
scription (probably  the  letter  of  Lentulus  to  the 
Roman  Senate,  supposed  to  be  a  fabrication  of  the 


10 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


third  century),  we  have  the  type,  the  geneiio 
character,  since  adhered  to  in  the  representations 
of  the  Redeemer.  In  the  same  manner  traditional 
heads  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  rudely  sketched, 
became,  in  after-times,  the  groundwork  of  the 
highest  dignity  and  beauty,  still  retaining  that 
peculiarity  of  form  and  character  which  time  and 
long  custom  had  consecrated  in  the  eyes  of  the 
devout. 

A  controversy  arose  afterwards  in  the  early 
Christian  church,  which  had  a  most  important  in- 
fluence on  art,  as  subsequently  developed.  One 
party,  with  St.  Cyril  at  their  head,  maintained 
that  the  form  of  the  Saviour  having  been  described 
by  the  prophet  as  without  any  outward  comeliness, 
he  ought  to  be  represented  in  painting  as  utterly 
hideous  and  repulsive.  Happily  the  most  eloquent 
and  influential  among  the  fathers  of  the  church, 
St.  Jerome,  St.  Augustin,  St.  Ambrose,  and  St. 
Bernard,  took  up  the  other  side  of  the  question. 
The  pope,  Adrian  L,  threw  his  infallibility  into 
the  scale ;  and  from  the  eighth  century  we  find  it 
irrevocably  decided,  and  confirmed  by  a  papal  bull, 
that  the  Redeemer  should  be  represented  with  all 
the  attributes  of  divine  beauty  which  art,  in  its 
then  rude  state,  could  lend  him. 

The  most  ancient  representations  of  the  Virgin 
Mary  now  remaining  are  the  old  mosaics,  which 
are  referred  to  the  latter  half  of  the  fifth  century.* 

*  In  the  churches  of  Rome,  Pisa,  and  Venice. 


GIOVANNI  CIMABUE. 


11 


In  these  she  is  represented  as  a  colossal  figure, 
majestically  draped,  standing,  one  hand  on  her 
breast,  and  her  eves  raised  to  heaven ;  then  suc- 
ceeded her  image  in  her  maternal  character,  seated 
on  a  throne,  with  the  infant  Saviour  in  her  arms. 
We  must  bear  in  mind,  once  for  all,  that  from  the 
earliest  ages  of  Christianity  the  Virgin  Mother  has 
been  selected  as  the  allegorical  type  of  Religion, 
in  the  abstract  sense ;  and  to  this,  her  symbolical 
character,  must  be  referred  those  representations  of 
later  times,  in  which  she  appears  as  trampling  on 
the  Dragon  ;  as  folding  her  votaries  within  the 
skirts  of  her  ample  robe  ;  as  interceding  for  sinners  ; 
as  crowned  between  heaven  and  earth  by  the  Father 
and  the  Son. 

Besides  the  representations  of  Christ  and  the 
Virgin,  some  of  the  characters  and  incidents  of  the 
Old  Testament  were  selected  as  pictures,  generally 
with  reference  to  corresponding  characters  and  in- 
cidents in  the  Gospel ;  thus,  St.  Augustin,  in  the 
latter  half  of  the  fourth  century,  speaks  of  the 
sacrifice  of  Isaac  as  a  common  subject,  typical,  of 
course,  of  the  Great  Sacrifice.  The  elevation  of 
the  brazen  serpent  signified  the  Crucifixion  ;  Jonah 
and  the  whale,  the  Resurrection,  &c.  This  system 
of  corresponding  subjects,  of  type  and  anti-type, 
was  afterwards,  as  we  shall  see,  carried  much 
further. 

In  the  seventh  century,  painting,  as  it  existed  in 
Europe,  may  be  divided  into  two  great  schools  or 


12 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


etyles  :  the  Western,  or  Roman,  of  which  the  een- 
tral  point  was  Rome,  and  which  was  distinguished, 
amid  great  rudeness  of  execution,  by  a  certain  dig- 
nity of  expression  and  solemnity  of  feeling ;  and 
the  Eastern,  or  Byzantine  school,  of  which  Con- 
stantinople was  the  head-quarters,  and  which  was 
distinguished  by  greater  mechanical  skill,  by  ad- 
herence to  fche  old  classical  forms,  by  the  use  of 
gilding,  and  by  the  mean,  vapid,  spiritless  concep- 
tion of  motive  and  character. 

From  the  seventh  to  the  ninth  century  the  most 
important  and  interesting  remains  of  pictorial  art 
are  the  mosaics  in  the  churches, #  and  the  miniature 
paintings  with  which  the  MS.  Bibles  and  Gospels 
were  decorated. 

But  during  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries  Italy 
fell  into  a  state  of  complete  barbarism  and  con- 
fusion, which  almost  extinguished  the  practice  of 
art  in  any  shape.  Of  this  period  only  a  few  works 
of  extreme  rudeness  remain.  In  the  Eastern  em- 
pire painting  still  survived.  It  became,  indeed, 
more  and  more  conventional,  insipid,  and  incorrect, 
but  the  technical  methods  were  kept  up  ;  and  thus 
it  happened  that  when,  in  1204,  Constantinople 
was  taken  by  the  Crusaders,  and  that  the  inter- 
course between  the  east  and  west  of  Europe  was 
resumed,  several  Byzantine  painters  passed  into 
Italy  and  Germany,  where  they  were  employed  to 

*  Particularly  those  in  the  church  of  Santa  Maria  Maggiore,  at 
Borne,  and  in  the  church  of  St.  Mark,  at  Venice. 


GIOVANNI  CIMABTJE. 


13 


decorate  the  churches  ;  and  taught  the  practice  of 
their  art,  their  manner  of  pencilling,  mixing  and 
using  colors,  and  gilding  ornaments,  to  such  as 
chose  to  learn  of  them.  They  brought  over  the 
Byzantine  types  of  form  and  color,  the  long,  lean 
limbs  of  the  saints,  the  dark-visaged  Madonnas, 
the  blood-streaming  crucifixes  ;  and  these  patterns 
were  followed  more  or  less  servilely  by  the  native 
[talian  painters  who  studied  under  them.  Speci- 
mens of  this  early  art  remain,  and  in  these  later 
times  have  been  diligently  sought  and  collected  into 
museums  as  curiosities,  illustrating  the  history 
and  progress  of  art.  As  such  they  are,  in  the  high- 
est degree,  interesting ;  but  it  must  be  confessed 
that,  otherwise,  they  are  not  attractive.  In  the 
Berlin  Gallery,  and  in  that  of  the  fine  arts  at  Flor- 
ence, the  best  specimens  have  been  brought  to- 
gether, and  there  are  a  few  in  the  Louvre. #  The 
subject  is  generally  the  Madonna  and  Child, 
throned  ;  sometimes  alone,  sometimes  with  angels 
or  saints  ranged  on  each  side.  The  characteristics 
are,  in  all  cases,  the  same.  The  figures  are  stiff, 
the  extremities  long  and  meagre,  the  features  hard 
and  expressionless,  the  eyes  long  and  narrow.  The 
head  of  the  Virgin  is  generally  declined  to  the  left ; 
the  infant  Saviour  is  generally  clothed,  and  some- 
times crowned.  Two  fingers  of  his  right  hand  are 
extended  in  act  to  bless ;  the  left  hand  holding  a 
globe,  a  scroll,  or  a  book.    With  regard  to  the  ex- 


*  Nos.  980,  981,  982. 


14 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


edition,  the  ornaments  of  the  throne  and  borders 
of  the  draperies,  and  frequently  the  background, 
are  elaborately  gilded  ;  the  local  colors  are  gene- 
rally vivid ;  there  is  little  or  no  relief ;  the  hand- 
ling is  streaky  ;  the  flesh-tints  are  blackish  or  green- 
ish. At  this  time,  and  for  two  hundred  years 
afterwards  (before  the  invention  of  oil  painting) , 
pictures  were  painted  either  in  fresco,  —  an  art 
never  wholly  lost,  —  or  on  seasoned  board,  and  the 
colors  mixed  with  water,  thickened  with  white  of 
egg  or  the  juice  of  the  young  shoots  of  the  fig-tree. 
This  last  method  was  styled  by  the  Italians  a  colla 
or  a  tempera,  by  the  French  en  detrempe,  and  in 
English  distemper ;  and  in  this  manner  all  movable 
pictures  were  executed  previous  to  1440. 

It  is  clear  that,  before  the  birth  of  Cimabue,  that 
is,  from  1200  to  1240,  there  existed  schools  of 
painting  in  the  Byzantine  style,  and  under  Greek 
teachers,  at  Sienna  and  at  Pisa.  The  former  city 
produced  Guido  da  Sienna,  whose  Madonna  and 
Child,  with  figures  the  size  of  life,  signed  and  dated 
1221,  is  preserved  in  the  church  of  San  Domenico, 
at  Sienna.  It  is  engraved  in  Rossini's  "  Storia  della 
Pittura,"  on  the  same  page  with  a  Madonna  by 
Cimabue,  to  which  it  appears  superior  in  drawing, 
attitude,  expression,  and  drapery.  Pisa  produced, 
about  the  same  time,  Giunta  de  Pisa,  of  whom 
there  remain  works  with  the  date  1236.  One  of 
these  is  a  Crucifixion,  engraved-  in  Ottley's  "  Italian 
School  of  Design,"  and,  on  a  smaller  scale,  in  Ros- 


GIOVANNI  CIMABUE. 


15 


sini's  "  Storia  della  Pittura,"  in  which  the  expres- 
sion of  grief  in  the  hovering  angels,  who  are  wring- 
ing their  hands  and  weeping,  is  very  earnest  and 
striking.  But  undoubtedly  the  greatest  man  of 
that  time,  he  who  gave  the  grand  impulse  to  mod 
era  art,  was  the  sculptor  Nicola  Pisano,  whoso 
works  date  from  about  1220  to  1270.  Further,  it 
appears  that  even  at  Florence  a  native  painter,  a 
certain  Maestro  Bartolomeo,  lived  and  was  em- 
ployed in  1236.  Thus  Cimabue  can  scarcely  claim 
v  to  be  the  "  father  of  modern  painting,"  even  in  his 
own  city  of  Florence.  We  shall  now  proceed  to 
the  facts  on  which  his  traditional  celebrity  has  been 
founded. 

Giovanni  of  Florence,  of  the  noble  family  of  the 
Cimabue,  called  otherwise  Gualtieri,  was  born  in 
1240.  He  was  early  sent  by  his  parents  to  study 
grammar  in  the  school  of  the  convent  of  Santa 
Maria  Novella,  where  (as  is  also  related  of  other 
inborn  painters),  instead  of  conning  his  task,  he 
distracted  his  teachers  by  drawing  men,  horses, 
buildings,  on  his  school-books.  Before  printing  was 
invented,  this  spoiling  of  school-books  must  have 
boen  rather  a  costly  fancy,  and  no  doubt  alarmed 
the  professors  of  Greek  and  Latin.  His  parents, 
wisely  yielding  to  the  natural  bent  of  his  mind, 
allowed  him  to  study  painting  under  some  Greek 
artists  who  had  come  to  Florence  to  decorate  the 
church  of  the  convent  in  which  he  was  a  scholar 
It  seems  doubtful  whether  Cimabue  did  study  under 


16 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


the  identical  painters  alluded  to  by  Vasari,  but 
that  his  masters  and  models  were  the  Byzantine 
painters  of  the  time  seems  to  admit  of  no  doubt 
whatever.  The  earliest  of  his  works  mentioned  by 
Vasari  still  exists,  —  a  St.  Cecilia,  painted  for  the 
altar  of  that  saint,  but  now  preserved  in  the  church 
of  San  Stefano.  He  was  soon  afterwards  employed 
by  the  monks  of  Vallombrosa,  for  whom  he  painted 
a  Madonna  with  Angels  on  a  gold  ground,  now 
preserved  in  the  Academy  of  the  Fine  Arts,  at 
Florence.  He  also  painted  a  Crucifixion  for  the 
church  of  the  Santa  Croce,  still  to  be  seen  there, 
and  several  pictures  for  the  churches  of  Pisa,  to  the 
great  contentment  of  the  Pisans  ;  and  by  these  and 
other  works  his  fame  being  spread  far  and  near,  he 
was  called  in  the  year  1265,  when  he  was  only 
twenty-five,  to  finish  the  frescoes  in  the  church  or 
St.  Francis  at  Assisi,  which  had  been  begun  by 
Greek  painters,  and  continued  by  Giunta  Pisano. 

The  decoration  of  this  celebrated  church  is  mem- 
orable in  the  history  of  painting.  It  is  known 
that  many  of  the  best  artists  of  the  thirteenth  and 
fourteenth  centuries  were  employed  there ;  but  only 
fragments  of  the  earliest  pictures  exist,  and  the 
authenticity  of  those  ascribed  to  Cimabue  has  been 
disputed  by  a  great  authority.*  Lanzi,  however, 
and  Dr.  Kugler  agree  in  attributing  to  him  the 
paintings  on  the  roof  of  the  nave,  representing,  in 
medallions,  the  figures  of  Christ,  the  Madonna,  St. 

*  Runiohr,  "  Italienische  Forschungen." 


GIOVANNI  CIMABUE. 


17 


John  the  Baptist,  St.  Francis,  and  the  four  Evan* 
gelists.  44  The  ornaments  which  surround  these 
medallions  are,  however,  more  interesting  than  the 
medallions  themselves.  In  the  lower  corners  of  the 
triangles  are  represented  naked  Genii,  bearing  taste- 
ful vases  on  their  heads;  out  of  these  grow  rich 
foliage  and  flowers,  on  which  hang  other  Genii, 
who  pluck  the  fruit,  or  lurk  in  the  cups  of  the 
flowers."  #  If  these  are  really  by  the  hand  of 
Cimabue,  we  must  allow  that  here  is  a  great  step 
in  advance  of  the  formal  monotony  of  his  Greek 
models.  He  executed  many  other  pictures  in  this 
famous  church,  44  con  diligenza  injinita"  from  the 
Old  and  New  Testament,  in  which,  judging  from 
the  fragments  which  remain,  he  showed  a  decided 
improvement  in  drawing,  in  dignity  of  attitude, 
and  in  the  expression  of  life,  but  still  the  figures 
have  only  just  so  much  of  animation  and  signifi- 
cance as  are  absolutely  necessary  to  render  the 
story  or  action  intelligible.  There  is  no  variety, 
no  express  imitation  of  nature.  Being  recalled  by 
his  affairs  to  Florence,  about  1270,  he  painted 
there  the  most  celebrated  of  all  his  works,  tho 
Madonna  and  Infant  Christ,  for  the  church  of 
Santa  Maria  Novella.  This  Madonna,  of  a  larger 
size  than  any  which  had  been  previously  executed, 
had  excited  in  its  progress  great  curiosity  and  in- 
terest among  his  fellow-citizens  ;  for  Cimabue  re- 
fused to  uncover  it  to  public  view.  But  it  happened 

*  Kugler,    Hand-book  " 

2 


18 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


about  that  time  that  Charles  of  Anjou,  brother  of 
Louis  IX.,  being  on  his  way  to  take  possession  of 
the  kingdom  of  Naples,  passed  through  Florence, 
and  was  received  and  feasted  by  the  nobles  of  that 
city ;  and,  among  other  entertainments,  they  con- 
ducted him  to  visit  the  atelier  of  Cimabue,  which 
was  in  a  garden  near  the  Porta  San  Piero.  On 
this  festive  occasion  the  Madonna  was  uncovered, 
and  the  people  in  joyous  crowds  hurried  thither  to 
look  upon  it,  rending  the  air  with  exclamations  of 
delight  and  astonishment,  whence  this  quarter  of 
the  city  obtained  and  has  kept  ever  since  the  name 
of  the  Borgo  Allegri.  The  Madonna,  when  fin- 
ished, was  carried  in  great  pomp  from  the  atelier 
of  the  painter  to  the  church  for  which  it  was  des- 
tined, accompanied  by  the  magistrates  of  the  city, 
by  music,  and  by  crowds  of  people,  in  solemn  and 
festive  procession.  This  well-known  anecdote  has 
lent  a  venerable  charm  to  the  picture,  which  is  yet 
to  be  seen  in  the  church  of  Santa  Maria  Novella  ; 
but  it  is  difficult  in  this  advanced  state  of  art  to 
sympathize  in  the  naive  enthusiasm  it  excited  in 
*Jie  minds  of  a  whole  people  six  hundred  years  ago. 
Though  not  without  a  certain  grandeur,  the  form 
is  very  stiff,  with  long,  lean  fingers  and  formal 
drapery,  little  varying  from  the  Byzantine  models  ; 
but  the  Infant  Christ  is  better  ;  the  angels  on  either 
side  have  a  certain  elegance  and  dignity,  and  the 
coloring  in  its  first  freshness  and  delicacy  had  a 
charm  hitherto  unknown.     After  this,  Cimabue 


GIOVANNI  CIMABUE. 


19 


became  famous  in  all  Italy.  He  had  a  school  of 
painting  at  Florence,  and  many  pupils  ;  among 
them  one  who  was  destined  to  take  the  sceptre  from 
his  hand,  and  nil  all  Italy  with  his  fame, — and 
who,  but  for  him,  would  have  kept  sheep  in  the 
Tuscan  valleys  all  his  life,  —  the  glorious  Giotto, 
of  whom  we  are  to  speak  presently.  Cimabue, 
besides  being  a  painter,  was  a  worker  in  mosaic  and 
an  architect.  He  was  employed,  in  conjunction 
with  Arnolfo  Lapi,  in  the  building  of  the  church 
of  Santa  Maria  del  Fiore,  at  Florence.  Finally, 
having  lived  for  more  than  sixty  years  in  great 
honor  and  renown,  he  died  at  Florence  about  the 
year  1302,  while  employed  on  the  mosaics  of  the 
Duomo  of  Pisa,  and  was  carried  from  his  house,  in 
the  Via  del  Cocomero,  to  the  church  of  Santa  Maria 
del  Fiore,  where  he  was  buried.  The  following 
epitaph  was  inscribed  above  his  tomb  : 

"  Credidit  ut  Cimabos  picture  castra  tenere  ; 
Sic  tenuit  vivens  —  nunc  tenet  astra  Poll"  * 

Besides  the  undoubted  works  of  Cimabue  pre- 
served in  the  churches  of  San  Domenico,  la  Trinita, 
and  Santa  Maria  Novella,  at  Florence,  and  in  the 
Academy  of  Arts  in  the  same  city,  there  are  two 
Madonnas  in  the  Gallery  of  the  Louvre  (Nos.  950, 
951) ,  recently  brought  there  ;  one  as  large  as  life, 

*  Cimabue  thought  himself  master  of  the  field  of  pair  ting  $ 
While  living  he  was  so  —  now  he  holds  his  place  among  the 
stars  of  heaven. 


20 


EABLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


with  angels,  originally  painted  for  the  convent  of 
St.  Francis,  at  Pisa,  the  other  of  a  smaller  size. 
From  these  productions  we  may  judge  of  the  real 
merit  of  Cimabue.  In  his  figures  of  the  Virgin  ho 
adhered  almost  servilely  to  the  Byzantine  models. 
The  faces  are  ugly  and  vapid,  the  features  elon- 
gated, the  extremities  meagre,  the  general  effect 
flat.  But  to  his  heads  of  prophets,  patriarchs,  and 
apostles,  whether  introduced  into  his  great  pictures 
of  the  Madonna,  or  in  other  sacred  subjects,  he 
gave  a  certain  grandeur  of  expression  and  largeness 
of  form,  or,  as  Lanzi  expresses  it,  "un  non  so  che 
di  forte  e  sublime,"  in  which  he  has  not  been 
greatly  surpassed  by  succeeding  painters  ;  and  this 
energy  of  expression  —  his  chief  and  distinguishing 
excellence,  and  which  gave  him  the  superiority 
over  Guido  of  Sienna  and  others  who  painted  only 
Madonnas  —  was  in  harmony  with  his  personal 
character.  He  is  described  to  us  as  exceedingly 
haughty  and  disdainful,  of  a  fiery  temperament, 
proud  of  his  high  lineage,  his  skill  in  his  art,  and 
his  various  acquirements,  for  he  was  well  studied 
in  all  the  literature  of  his  age.  If  a  critic  found 
fault  with  one  of  his  works  when  in  progress,  or  if 
he  were  himself  dissatisfied  with  it,  he  would  at 
once  destroy  it,  whatever  pains  it  might  have  coryfc 
him.  From  these  traits  of  character,  and  the  bent 
of  his  genius,  which  leaned  to  the  grand  and  terri- 
ble rather  than  the  gentle  and  graceful,  he  has 
subsequently  been  styled  the  Michael  Angelo  of  his 


GIOVANNI  CIMABUE. 


21 


time.  It  is  recorded  of  him  by  Vasari  that  he 
painted  a  head  of  St.  Francis  after  nature,  a  thing, 
he  says,  till  then  unknown.  It  could  not  have  been 
a  portrait  from  life,  because  St.  Francis  died  in 
1225  ;  and  the  earliest  head  after  nature  which 
remains  to  us  was  painted  by  Giunta  Pisano,  about 
1235.  It  was  the  portrait  of  Frate  Elia,  a  monk 
of  Assisi.  Perhaps  Vasari  means  that  the  San 
^  Francesco  was  the  first  representation  of  a  sacred 
personage  for  which  nature  had  been  taken  as  a 
model. 

There  is  a  portrait  of  Cimabue  copied  from  a 
tracing  of  the  original  head,  painted  on  the  walls 
of  the  Chapel  degli  Spagnuoli,  in  the  church  of 
Santa  Maria  Novella,  by  Simone  Memmi  of  Sienna, 
who  was  at  Florence  during  the  lifetime  of  Cimabue, 
and  must  have  known  him  personally.  This  paint- 
ing, though  executed  after  the  death  of  Cimabue, 
has  always  been  considered  authentic  as  a  portrait. 
It  is  the  same  alluded  to  by  Vasari,  and  copied  for 
the  first  edition  of  his  book. 

Cimabue  had  several  remarkable  contemporaries. 
The  greatest  of  these,  and  certainly  the  greatest 
artist  of  his  time,  was  the  sculptor  Nicola  Pisano. 
The  works  of  this  extraordinary  genius,  which  have 
been  preserved  to  our  time,  are  so  far  beyond  all 
contemporary  art  in  knowledge  of  form,  grace, 
expression,  and  intention,  that,  if  indisputable 
proofs  of  their  authenticity  did  not  exist,  it  would 
be  pronounced  incredible.    On  a  comparison  of  the 


22 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


works  of  Cimabue  and  Nicola  Pisano,  it  is  difficult 
to  conceive  that  Nicola  executed  the  bas-reliefs  of 
the  pulpit  in  the  Cathedral  of  Pisa  while  Cimabue 
was  painting  the  frescoes  in  the  church  of  AssisL 
He  was  the  first  to  leave  the  stiff  monotony  of  the 
traditional  forms  for  the  study  of  nature  and  the 
antique.  The  story  says  that  his  emulative  fancy 
was  early  excited  by  the  beautiful  antique  sarcoph- 
agus on  which  is  seen  sculptured  the  Chase  of 
Hipolytus.*  In  this  sarcophagus  had  been  laid,  a 
hundred  years  before,  the  body  of  Beatrice,  the 
mother  of  the  famous  Countess  Matilda.  In  the 
time  of  Nicola  it  was  placed,  as  an  ornament,  in 
the  Duomo  of  Pisa  ;  and  as  a  youth  he  had  looked 
upon  it  from  day  to  day,  until  the  grace,  the  life 
and  movement  of  the  figures  struck  him,  in  com- 
parison with  the  barbarous  art  of  his  contempora- 
ries, as  nothing  less  than  divine.  Many  before  him 
had  looked  on  this  marble  wonder,  but  to  none  had 
it  spoken  as  it  spoke  to  him.  He  was  the  first, 
says  Lanzi,  to  see  the  light  and  to  follow  it.f  There 
is  an  engraving  after  one  of  his  bas-reliefs  —  a 
Deposition  from  the  Cross,  in  Ottley's  "  School  of 
Design,"  which  should  be  referred  to  by  the  reader, 
who  may  not  have  seen  his  works  at  Pisa,  Florence, 

*  Now  preserved  in  the  Campo  Santo,  at  Pisa. 

\  Rosini,  in  his  "  Storia  della  Pittura,"  has  rectified  some  errors 
into  which  Vasari  and  Lanzi  have  fallen  with  regard  to  the  dates 
of  Nicola  Pisano's  works.  It  appears  that  he  lived  and  worked  so 
late  as  1290. 


GIOVANNI  CIMABDE. 


23 


Sienna,  and  Orvieto.  There  are  also  several  of 
his  works  engraved  in  Cicognara's  "  Storia  della 
Seultura." 

Another  contemporary  of  Cimabue,  and  his  friend, 
was  Andrea  Tafi,  the  greatest  worker  in  mosaic  of 
his  time.  The  assertion  of  Vasari,  that  he  learned 
his  art  from  the  Byzantines,  is  now  discredited  ;  for 
it  appears  certain  that  the  mosaic-workers  of  Italy 
x  (the  forerunners  of  painting)  excelled  the  Greek  ar- 
tists then,  and  for  a  century  or  two  before.  Andrea 
Tafi  died,  very  old,  in  1294;  and  his  principal  works 
remain  in  the  Duomo  of  St.  Mark,  at  Venice,  and  in 
the  church  of  San  Giovanni,  at  Florence.  Another 
famous  mosaic-worker,  also  an  intimate  friend  of 
Cimabue,  was  Gaddo  Gaddi,  remarkable  for  being 
the  first  of  a  family  illustrious  in  several  depart- 
ments of  art  and  literature.  It  must  be  remem- 
bered that  the  mosaic-workers  of  those  times  pre- 
pared and  colored  their  own  designs,  and  may, 
therefore,  take  rank  with  the  painters. 

Further,  there  remain  pictures  by  painters  of  the 
Sienna  school  which  date  before  the  death  of  Cima- 
bue, and  particularly  a  picture  by  a  certain  Maestro 
Mino,  dated  1289,  which  is  spoken  of  as  wonderful 
for  the  invention  and  greatness  of  style.  Another 
painter,  who  sprung  from  the  Byzantine  school, 
and  surpassed  it,  was  Duccio  of  Sienna,  who 
painted  from  1282  (twenty  years  before  the  death 
of  Cimabue)  to  about  1339,  and  "  whose  influence 
on  the  progress  of  art  was  unquestionably  great." 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


A  large  picture  by  him,  representing  in  many  com- 
partments the  whole  history  of  the  Passion  of  Christ, 
is  preserved  at  Sienna.  It  excited,  like  Cimabue's 
Madonna,  the  pride  and  enthusiasm  of  his  fellow- 
citizens,  and  is  still  regarded  as  wonderful  for  the 
age  in  which  it  was  produced. 

All  these  men  (Nicola  Pisano  excepted)  still 
worked  on  in  the  trammels  of  Byzantine  art.  The 
first  painter  of  his  age  who  threw  them  wholly  off, 
and  left  them  far  behind  him,  was  Giotto. 


GIOTTO. 


Born  1276,  died  1336. 


**  Credette  Cimabue  nella  Pittura 

Tener  lo  campo,  ed  ora  ha  Giotto  il  grido  ;  — 
Sicche  la  fama  di  colui  oscura." 

"  Cimabue  thought 

To  lord  it  over  painting's  field  ;  and  now 
The  cry  is  Giotto's,  and  his  name  eclipsed." 

Carey's  1  xn*,e. 

These  often-quoted  lines,  from  Dante's  "  Purga- 
torio,"  must  needs  be  once  more  quoted  here;  for 
it  is  a  curious  circumstance  that,  applicable  in  his 
own  day,  five  hundred  years  ago,  they  should  still 
be  so  applicable  in  ours.  Open  any  common  his- 
tory, not  intended  for  the  very  profound,  and  there 
we  still  find  Cimabue  "  lording  it  over  painting's 
field,"  and  placed  at  the  head  of  a  revolution  in  art, 
with  which,  as  an  artist,  he  had  little  or  nothing  to 
do,  —  but  much  as  a  man  ;  for  to  him,  to  his  quick 
perception  and  generous  protection  of  talent  in  the 
lowly  shepherd-boy,  we  owe  Giotto,  than  whom  no 
single  human  being  of  whom  we  read  has  exercised, 
in  any  particular  department  of  science  or  art,  a 
more  immediate,  wide,  and  lasting  influence.  The 

(25) 


26 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


total  change  in  the  direction  and  character  of  art 
must,  in  all  human  probability,  have  taken  place 
sooner  or  later,  since  all  the  influences  of  that  won- 
derful period  of  regeneration  were  tending  towards 
it.  Then  did  architecture  struggle  as  it  were  from 
the  Byzantine  into  the  Gothic  forms,  like  a  mighty 
plant  putting  forth  its  rich  foliage  and  shooting  up 
towards  heaven  ;  then  did  the  speech  of  the  people 
—  the  vulgar  tongues,  as  they  were  called  —  begin 
to  assume  their  present  structure,  and  become  the 
medium  through  which  beauty  and  love  and  action 
and  feeling  and  thought  were  to  be  uttered  and  im- 
mortalized ;  and  then  arose  Giotto,  the  destined 
instrument  through  which  his  own  beautiful  art 
was  to  become,  not  a  mere  fashioner  of  idols,  but 
one  of  the  great  interpreters  of  the  human  soul  with 
all  its  "  infinite  "  of  feelings  and  faculties,  and  of 
human  life  in  all  its  multifarious  aspects.  Giotto 
was  the  first  painter  who  "  held  as  it  were  the  mir- 
ror up  to  nature. ' '  Cimabue's'  strongest  claim  to  the 
gratitude  of  succeeding  a»;es  is,  that  he  bequeathed 
such  a  man  to  his  native  country  and  to  the  world. 

About  the  year  1289,  when  Cimabue  was  already 
old  and  at  the  height  of  his  fame,  as  he  was  riding 
in  the  valley  of  Vespignano,  about  fourteen  miles 
from  Florence,  his  attention  was  attracted  by  a  boy 
who  was  herding  sheep,  and  who,  while  his  flocks 
were  feeding  around,  seemed  intently  drawing  on  a 
smooth  fragment  of  slate,  with  a  bit  of  pointed 
stone,  the  figure  of  one  of  his  sheep  as  it  was  qui- 


GIOTTO. 


27 


etly  grazing  before  him.  Cimabue  rode  up  to  him, 
and,  looking  with  astonishment  at  the  performance 
of  the  untutored  boy,  asked  him  if  he  would  go 
with  him  and  learn  ;  to  which  the  boy  replied,  that 
he  was  right  willing,  if  his  father  were  content. 
The  father,  a  herdsman  of  the  valley,  by  name 
Bondone,  being  consulted,  gladly  consented  to  the 
wish  of  the  noble  stranger,  and  Giotto  henceforth 
became  the  inmate  and  pupil  of  Cimabue. 

This  pretty  story,  which  was  first  related  by  Lo- 
renzo Ghiberti,  the  sculptor  (born  1378),  and  since 
by  Vasari  and  a  thousand  others,  luckily  rests  on 
evidence  as  satisfactory  as  can  be  given  for  any 
events  of  a  rude  and  distant  age,  and  may  well 
obtain  our  belief,  as  well  as  gratify  our  fancy ;  it 
has  been  the  subject  of  many  pictures,  and  is  intro- 
duced in  Rogers'  "  Italy  :  " 

"  Let  us  wander  through  the  fields 

Where  Cimabue  found  the  shepherd-boy 
Tracing  his  idle  fancies  on  the  ground." 

Giotto  was  about  twelve  or  fourteen  years  old 
when  taken  into  the  house  of  Cimabue.  For  his 
instruction  in  those  branches  of  polite  learning 
necessary  to  an  artist,  his  protector  placed  him 
under  the  tuition  of  Brunetto  Latini,  who  was  also 
the  preceptor  of  Dante.  When,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-six,  Giotto  lost  his  friend  and  master,  ho 
was  already  an  accomplished  man  as  well  as  a  cele- 
brated painter,  and  the  influence  of  his  large  origi- 


28 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


nai  mind  upon  the  later  works  of  Cimabue  is  dib 
tinctly  to  be  traced. 

The  first  recorded  performance  of  Giotto  was  a 
painting  on  the  wall  of  the  Palazzo  dell'  Podesta., 
or  council-chamber  of  Florence,  in  which  w^ero 
introduced  the  portraits  of  Dante,  Brunetto  Latini, 
Corso  Donati,  and  others.  Yasari  speaks  of  these 
works  as  the  first  successful  attempts  at  portraiture 
in  the  history  of  modern  art.  They  were  soon  after- 
wards plastered  or  whitewashed  over,  during  the 
triumph  of  the  enemies  of  Dante  ;  and  for  ages, 
though  known  to  exist,  they  were  lost  and  buried 
from  sight.  The  hope  of  recovering  these  most 
interesting  portraits  had  long  been  entertained,  and 
various  attempts  had  been  made  at  different  times 
without  success,  till  at  length,  as  late  as  1840,  they 
were  brought  to  light  by  the  perseverance  and  en- 
thusiasm of  Mr.  Bezzi,  an  Italian  gentleman,  now 
residing  in  England.  On  comparing  the  head  of 
Dante,  painted  when  he  was  about  thirty,  prosper- 
ous and  distinguished  in  his  native  city,  with  the 
later  portraits  of  him  when  an  exile,  worn,  wasted, 
embittered  by  misfortune  and  disappointment  and 
wounded  pride,  the  difference  of  expression  is  as 
touching  as  the  identity  in  feature  is  indubitable. 

The  attention  which  in  his  childhood  Giotto  seems 
to  have  given  to  all  natural  forms  and  appearances 
showed  itself  in  his  earlier  pictures ;  he  was  the 
first  to  whom  it  occurred  to  group  his  personages 
into  something  like  a  situation,  and  to  give  to  theii 


GIOTTO. 


29 


Attitudes  and  features  the  expression  adapted  to  it, 
Thus,  in  a  very  early  picture  of  the  Annunciation 
he  gave  to  the  Virgin  a  look  of  fear  ;  and  in  another } 
painted  some  time  afterwards,  of  the  Presentation 
in  the  Temple,  he  made  the  Infant  Christ  shrink 
from  the  priest,  and,  turning,  extend  his  little  arms 
to  Ills  mother  —  the  first  attempt  at  that  species  of 
grace  and  naivete  of  expression  afterwards  carried 
to  perfection  by  RafFaelle.  These  and  other  works 
painted  in  his  native  city  so  astonished  his  fellow- 
citizens,  and  all  who  beheld  them,  by  their  beauty 
and  novelty,  that  they  seem  to  have  wanted  ade- 
quate words  in  which  to  express  the  excess  of  their 
delight  and  admiration,  and  insisted  that  the  figures 
of  Giotto  so  completely  beguiled  the  sense  that  thry 
were  mistaken  for  realities  ;  a  commonplace  eulo- 
gium,  never  merited  but  by  the  most  commonplace 
and  mechanical  of  painters. 

In  the  church  of  Santa  Croce,  Giotto  painted  a 
Coronation  of  the  Virgin,  still  to  be  seen,  with 
choirs  of  angels  on  either  side.  In  the  refectory 
he  painted  the  Last  Supper,  also  still  remaining  ; 
a  grand,  solemn,  simple  composition,  which,  as  a 
first  endeavor  to  give  variety  of  expression  and  atti- 
tude to  a  number  of  persons,  —  all  seated,  and  all 
but  two  actuated  by  a  similar  feeling,  —  must  still 
be  regarded  as  extraordinary.  In  a  chapel  of  the 
church  of  the  Carmine,  at  Florence,  he  painted  a 
series  of  pictures  from  the  life  of  John  the  Baptist. 
These  were  destroyed  by  fire  in  1771 ;  but,  happily, 


30 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


an  English  engraver,  then  studying  at  Florence., 
named  Patch,  had  previously  made  accurate  draw- 
ings from  them,  which  he  engraved  and  published. 
A  fragment  of  the  old  fresco,  containing  the  heada 
of  two  of  the  Apostles,  who  are  bending  in  grief 
and  devotion  over  the  body  of  St.  John,  is  now  in 
the  collection  of  Mr.  Rogers,  the  poet.  It  certainly 
justifies  all  that  has  been  said  of  Giotto's  power  of 
expression,  and,  when  compared  with  the  remains 
of  earlier  art,  more  than  excuses  the  wonder  and 
enthusiasm  of  his  contemporaries. 

The  pope,  Boniface  VIII.,  hearing  of  his  marvel- 
lous skill,  invited  him  to  Rome ;  and  the  story  says, 
that  the  messenger  of  his  holiness,  wishing  to  have 
some  proof  that  Giotto  was  indeed  the  man  he  was 
in  search  of,  desired  to  see  a  specimen  of  his  excel- 
lence in  his  art ;  hereupon  Giotto,  taking  up  a 
sheet  of  paper,  traced  on  it,  with  a  single  flourish  of 
his  hand,  a  circle  so  perfect  that  "  it  was  a  miracle 
to  see ;  "  and  (though  we  know  not  how  or  why) 
seems  to  have  at  once  converted  the  pope  to  a  belief 
of  his  superiority  over  all  other  painters.  This 
story  gave  rise  to  the  well-known  Italian  proverb, 
(i  Piu  tondo  che  V  O  di  Giotto  "  (rounder  than  the 
0  of  Giotto),  and  is  something  like  a  story  told  of 
one  of  the  Grecian  painters.  But  to  return. — Giotto 
went  to  Rome,  and  there  executed  many  things 
which  raised  his  fame  higher  and  higher  ;  and 
among  them,  for  the  ancient  Basilica  of  St.  Peter's, 
the  famous  mosaic  of  the  Navicella,  or  the  Barcay 


GIOTTO. 


31 


as  it  is  sometimes  called.  It  represents  a  ship, 
with  the  Disciples,  on  a  tempestuous  sea ;  the 
winds,  personified  as  demons,  rage  around  it. 
Above  are  the  Fathers  of  the  Old  Testament  ;  on 
the  right  stands  Christ,  raising  Peter  from  the 
waves.  The  subject  has  an  allegorical  significance, 
denoting  the  troubles  and  triumphs  of  the  Church. 
This  mosaic  has  often  changed  its  situation,  and 
lias  been  restored  again  and  again,  till  nothing  of 
Giotto's  work  remains  but  the  original  composition. 
It  is  now  in  the  vestibule  of  St.  Peter's,  at  Home. 

For  the  same  Pope  Boniface,  Giotto  painted  the 
Institution  of  the  Jubilee  of  1300,  which  still  ex- 
ists in  the  Lateran,  at  Rome. 

In  Padua  Giotto  painted  the  chapel  of  the  Arena 
with  frescoes,  from  the  life  of  Christ  and  the  Vir- 
gin, in  fifty  square  compartments.  Of  this  chapel 
the  late  Lady  Callcott  published  an  interesting  ac- 
count. There  is  exceeding  grace  and  simplicity  in 
some  of  the  outline  groups  with  which  her  work  is 
illustrated,  particularly  the  Marriage  of  the  Virgin 
and  St.  Joseph.  At  Padua  Giotto  met  his  friend 
Dante ;  and  the  influence  of  one  great  genius  on 
another  is  strongly  exemplified  in  some  of  his  suc- 
ceeding works,  and  particularly  in  his  next  grand 
performance,  the  frescoes  in  the  church  of  Assisi. 
In  the  under  church,  and  immediately  ever  the 
tomb  of  St.  Francis,  the  painter  represented  the 
three  vows  of  the  Order  —  Poverty,  Chastity,  and 
Obedience ;  and  in  the  fourth  compartment,  the 


32 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


Saint  enthroned  and  glorified  amidst  the  host  of 
heaven.  The  invention  of  the  allegories  under 
which  Giotto  has  represented  the  vows  of  the  Saint, 
his  Marriage  with  Poverty,  —  Chastity  seated  in 
her  rocky  fortress,  —  and  Obedience  with  the  curb 
and  yoke,  are  ascribed  by  a  tradition  to  Dante. 
Giotto  also  painted,  in  the  Campo  Santo,  at  Pisa, 
the  whole  history  of  Job,  of  which  only  some  frag- 
ments remain. 

By  the  time  Giotto  had  attained  his  thirtieth 
year,  he  had  reached  such  hitherto  unknown  ex- 
cellence in  art,  and  his  celebrity  was  so  universal, 
that  every  city  and  every  petty  sovereign  in  Italy 
contended  for  the  honor  of  his  presence  and  hia 
pencil,  and  tempted  him  with  the  promise  of  rich 
rewards.  For  the  lords  of  Arezzo,  of  Rimini,  and 
Ravenna,  and  for  the  Duke  of  Milan,  he  executed 
many  works,  now  almost  wholly  perished.  Cai> 
truccio  Castricani,  the  warlike  tyrant  of  Lucca, 
also  employed  him ;  but  how  Giotto  was  induced 
to  listen  to  the  offers  of  this  enemy  of  his  country 
is  not  explained.  Perhaps  Castruccio,  as  the  head 
of  the  Ghibelline  party,  in  which  Giotto  had  ap- 
parently enrolled  himself,  appeared  in  the  light  of 
a  friend  rather  than  an  enemy.  However  this  may 
be,  a  picture  which  Giotto  painted  for  Castruccio, 
and  in  which  he  introduced  the  portrait  of  the 
tyrant,  with  a  falcon  on  his  fist,  is  still  preserved 
in  the  Lyceum  at  Lucca.  For  Guido  da  Polente, 
the  father  of  that  hapless  Francesca  di  Rim  mi, 


OIOITO. 


33 


whose  story  is  so  beautifully  told  by  Dante,  he 
painted  the  interior  of  a  church  ;  and  for  Malatesta 
di  Rimini  (who  was  father  of  Francesca's  husband) 
he  painted  the  portrait  of  that  prince  in  a  bark, 
with  vhis  companions  and  a  company  of  mariners  ; 
and  among  them,  Vasari  tells  us,  was  the  figure  of 
a  sailor,  who,  turning  round  with  his  hand  before 
his  face,  is  in  the  act  of  spitting  in  the  sea,  so  life- 
like as  to  strike  the  beholders  with  amazement. 
This  has  perished.  But  the  figure  of  the  thirsty 
man  stooping  to  drink,  in  one  of  the  frescoes  at 
Assisi,  still  remains,  to  show  the  kind  of  excellence 
through  which  Giotto  excited  such  admiration  in 
his  contemporaries,  —  a  power  of  imitation,  a  truth 
in  the  expression  of  natural  actions  and  feelings, 
to  which  painting  had  never  yet  ascended  or  de- 
scended. This  leaning  to  the  actual  and  the  real 
has  been  made  a  subject  of  reproach,  to  which  wo 
shall  hereafter  refer. 

It  is  said  —  but  this  does  not  rest  on  very  satis- 
factory evidence  —  that  Giotto  also  visited  Avig- 
non, in  the  train  of  Pope  Clement  V.,  and  painted 
there  the  portraits  of  Petrarch  and  Laura. 

About  the  year  1327,  King  Robert  of  Naples,  the 
father  of  Queen  Joanna,  wrote  to  his  son,  the  Duke 
of  Calabria,  then  at  Florence,  to  send  to  him,  on 
any  terms,  the  famous  painter  Giotto  ;  who  accord- 
ingly travelled  to  the  court  of  Naples,  stopping  on 
his  way  in  several  cities,  where  he  left  specimens 
of  his  skill.  He  also  visited  Orvieto  for  the  pur- 
3 


34  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


pose  of  viewing  the  sculpture  with  which  the 
brothers  Agostino  and  Agnolo  were  decorating  the 
cathedral  ;  and  not  only  bestowed  on  it  high  com- 
mendation, but  obtained  for  the  artists  the  praise 
and  patronage  they  merited.  There  is  at  Gaeta  a 
Crucifixion  painted  by  Giotto,  either  on  his  way  to 
Naples  or  on  his  return,  in  which  he  introduced 
himself  kneeling  in  an  attitude  of  deep  devotion  and 
contrition  at  the  foot  of  the  cross.  This  introduc- 
tion of  portraiture  into  a  subject  so  awful  was 
another  innovation,  not  so  praiseworthy  as  some 
of  his  alterations.  Giotto's  feeling  for  truth  and 
propriety  of  expression  is  particularly  remarkable 
and  commendable  in  the  alteration  of  the  dreadful 
but  popular  subject  of  the  crucifix.  In  the  Byzan- 
tine school,  the  sole  aim  seems  to  have  been  to  rep- 
resent  physical  agony,  and  to  render  it,  by  every 
species  of  distortion  and  exaggeration,  as  terrible 
and  repulsive  as  possible.  Giotto  was  the  first  to 
soften  this  awful  and  painful  figure  by  an  expres- 
sion of  divine  resignation,  and  by  greater  attention 
to  beauty  of  form.  A  Crucifixion  painted  by  him 
became  the  model  for  his  scholars,  and  was  multi- 
plied by  imitation  through  all  Italy ;  so  that  a 
famous  painter  of  crucifixes  after  the  Greek  fash- 
ion, Margaritone,  who  had  been  a  friend  and  con- 
temporary of  Cimabue,  confounded  by  the  intro- 
duction of  this  new  method  of  art,  which  he  partly 
disdained  and  partly  despaired  to  imitate,  and  old 
enough  to  hate  innovations  of  all  kinds,  took  to 


GTOlTO. 


nis  bed  "  infastidito  "  (through  vexation),  and  so 
died. 

But  to  return  to  Giotto,  whom  we  left  on  the 
road  "to  Naples.  King  Robert  received  him  with 
great  honor  and  rejoicing,  and,  being  a  monarch  of 
singular  accomplishments,  and  fond  of  the  society 
of  learned  and  distinguished  men,  he  soon  found 
that  Giotto  was  not  merely  a  painter,  but  a  man 
of  the  world,  a  man  of  various  acquirements,  whose 
general  reputation  for  wit  and  vivacity  was  not  un- 
merited. He  would  sometimes  visit  the  painter  at 
his  work,  and,  while  watching  the  rapid  progress 
of  his  pencil,  amused  himself  with  the  quaint  good 
sense  of  his  discourse.  "  If  I  were  you,  Giotto," 
said  the  king  to  him,  one  very  hot  day,  "  I  would 
leave  off  work,  and  rest  myself."  —  "  And  so  would 
1,  sire,"  replied  the  painter,  "if  I  were  you!'*'' 
The  king,  in  a  playful  mood,  desired  him  to  paint 
his  kingdom  ;  on  which  Giotto  immediately  sketched 
the  figure  of  an  ass,  with  a  heavy  pack-saddle  on 
his  back,  smelling  with  an  eager  air  at  another 
pack-saddle  lying  on  the  ground,  on  which  were  a 
crown  and  sceptre.  By  this  emblem  the  satirical 
painter  expressed  the  servility  and  the  fickleness  of 
the  Neapolitans,  and  the  king  at  once  understood 
the  allusion. 

While  at  Naples  Giotto  painted  in  the  church  of 
the  Incoronati  a  series  of  frescoes  representing  the 
Seven  Sacraments  according  to  the  Roman  ritual. 
These  still  exist,  and  are  among  the  most  authentic 


80  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 

and  best  preserved  of  his  works.  The  Sacrament 
of  Marriage  contains  many  female  figures,  beauti- 
fully designed  and  grouped,  with  graceful  heads 
and  flowing  draperies.  This  picture  is  tradition- 
ally said  to  represent  the  marriage  of  Joanna  of 
Naples  and  Louis  of  Taranto  ;  but  Giotto  died  in 
1336.  and  these  famous  espousals  took  place  in 
1347.  A  dry  date  will  sometimes  confound  a  very 
pretty  theory.  In  the  Sacrament  of  Ordination 
there  is  a  group  of  chanting-boys,  in  which  the 
various  expressions  of  the  act  of  singing  are  given 
with  that  truth  of  imitation  which  made  Giotto  the 
wonder  of  his  day.  His  paintings  from  the  Apoc- 
alypse, in  the  church  of  Santa  Chiara,  were  white- 
washed over,  about  two  centuries  age,  by  a  certain 
prior  of  the  convent,  because,  in  the  opinion  of  this 
barbarian ,  they  made  the  church  look  dark  ! 

Giotto  quitted  Naples  about  the  year  1328,  and 
returned  to  his  native  city  with  great  increase  of 
riches  and  fame.  He  continued  his  works  with  un- 
abated application,  assisted  by  his  pupils;  for  his 
school  was  now  the  most  famous  in  Italy.  Like 
most  of  the  early  Italian  artists,  he  was  an  archi- 
tect and  sculptor,  as  well  as  a  painter ;  and  his  last 
public  work  was  the  famous  Campanile,  or  Bell- 
tower,  at  Florence,  founded  in  1334,  for  which  he 
made  all  the  designs,  and  even  executed  with  his 
own  hand  the  models  for  the  sculpture  on  the  three 
lower  divisions.  According  to  Kugler,  they  form 
a  regular  series  of  subjects,  illustrating  the  develop* 


GIOTTO. 


37 


ment  of  human  culture,  through  religion  and  laws, 
"  conceived,1'  says  the  same  authority,  "  with  pro- 
found wisdom."  When  the  Emperor  Charles  V. 
saw  this  elegant  structure,  he  exclaimed  that  it 
ought  to  be  "  kept  under  glass."  In  the  same 
allegorical  taste  Giotto  painted  many  pictures  of 
the  Virtues  and  Vices,  ingeniously  invented,  and 
rendered  with  great  attention  to  natural  and  ap- 
propriate expression.  In  these  and  similar  repre- 
sentations we  trace  distinctly  the  influence  of  the 
genius  of  Dante.  A  short  time  before  his  death  he 
was  invited  to  Milan  by  Azzo  Visconti.  He  exe- 
cu  ted  some  admirable  frescoes  in  the  ancient  palace 
of  the  Dukes  of  Milan  ;  but  these  have  perished 
Finally,  having  returned  to  Florence,  he  soon  after- 
wards died,  "  yielding  up  his  soul  to  God  in  the 
year  1336;  and  having  been,"  adds  Vasari,  "  no 
less  a  good  Christian  than  an  excellent  painter." 
Fie  was  honorably  interred  in  the  church  of  Santa 
Maria  del  Fiore,  where  his  master  Cimabue  had 
bean  laid  with  similar  honors,  thirty-five  years 
before.  Lorenzo  de'  Medici  afterwards  placed 
above  his  tomb  his  effigy  in  marble.  Giotto  left 
four  sons  and  four  daughters,  but  we  do  not  hear 
that  any  of  his  descendants  became  distinguished 
in  art  or  otherwise.* 

*  In  the  foregoing  sketch  some  disputed  points  in  the  life  of 
Giotto  are,  for  obvious  reasons,  left  at  rest  5  and  the  order  of  events 
has  bsen  somewhat  changed,  in  accordance  with  more  exact  ch  *oii- 
Iclers  than  Vasari 


38 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


Before  we  proceed  to  give  some  account  of  tlie 
personal  character  and  influence  of  Giotto,  both  as 
-  a  man  and  an  artist,  of  which  many  amusing  and 
interesting  traits  have  been  handed  down  to  us,  we 
must  turn  for  a  moment  to  reconsider  that  revolu- 
tion in  art,  which  originated  with  him,  —  which 
seized  at  once  on  all  imaginations,  all  sympathies  ; 
which  Dante,  Boccaccio,  and  Petrarch,  have  all 
commemorated  in  immortal  verse  or  as  immortal 
prose  ;  which,  during  a  whole  century,  filled  Italy 
and  Sicily  with  disciples  formed  in  the  same  school, 
and  penetrated  with  the  same  ideas.  All  that  had 
been  done  in  painting,  before  Giotto,  resolved  itself 
into  the  imitation  of  certain  existing  models,  and 
their  improvement  to  a  certain  point  in  style  of 
execution.  There  was  no  new  method.  The  Greek- 
ish  types  were  everywhere  seen,  more  or  less  modi- 
fied,—  a  Madonna  in  the  middle,  with  a  couple  of 
lank  saints  or  angels  stuck  on  each  side  ;  or  saints 
bearing  symbols,  or  with  their  names  written  over 
their  heads,  and  texts  of  Scripture  proceeding  from 
their  mouths ;  or,  at  the  most,  a  few  figures,  placed 
in  such  a  position  relatively  to  each  other  as  suf- 
ficed to  make  a  story  intelligible,  the  arrangement 
being  generally  traditional  and  arbitrary.  Such 
seems  to  have  been  the  limit  to  which  painting  had 
advanced  previous  to  1280. 

Giotto  appeared  ;  and  almost  from  the  beginning 
of  his  career  he  not  only  deviated  from  the  practice 
of  the  older  painters,  but  stood  opposed  to  them. 


GIOTTO. 


39 


He  not  only  improved  —  he  changed  ;  he  placed 
himself  on  wholly  new  ground.  He  took  up  those 
principles  which  Nicola  Pisano  had  applied  to 
sculpture,  and  went  to  the  same  sources, —  to  nature, 
and  to  those  remains  of  pure  antique  art  which 
showed  him  how  to  look  at  nature.  His  residence 
at  Rome  while  yet  young,  and  in  all  the  first  glow- 
ing development  of  his  creative  powers,  must  have 
had  an  incalculable  influence  on  his  after-works. 
Deficient  to  the  end  of  his  life  in  the  knowledge  of 
form,  he  was  deficient  in  that  kind  of  beauty  which 
depends  on  form  ,  but  his  feeling  for  grace  and  har- 
mony in  the  airs  of  his  heads  and  the  arrangement 
of  his  groups  was  exquisite  ;  and  the  longer  be 
practised  his  art,  the  more  free  and  flowing  became 
his  lines.  But,  beyond  grace  and  beyond  beauty, 
he  aimed  at  the  expression  of  natural  character  and 
emotion,  in  order  to  render  intelligible  his  newly- 
invented  scenes  of  action  and  his  religious  allego- 
ries. A  writer  near  his  time  speaks  of  it  as  some- 
thing new  and  wonderful  that  in  Giotto's  pictures 
"  the  personages  who  are  in  grief  look  melancholy, 
and  those  who  are  joyous  look  gay."  For  his 
heads  he  introduced  a  new  type,  exactly  reversing 
the  Greek  pattern  :  long-shaped,  half-shut  eyes ;  a 
long,  straight  nose  ;  and  a  very  short  chin.  Ti  e 
hands  are  rather  delicately  drawn,  but  he  could  not 
design  the  feet  well,  for  which  reason  we  generally 
find  those  of  his  men  clothed  in  shoes  or  sandals 
wherever  it  is  possible,  and  those  of  his  women  cov- 


40 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


ered  with  flowing  drapery.  The  management  ot 
his  draperies  is,  indeed,  particularly  characteristic ; 
distinguished  by  a  certain  lengthiness  and  narrow- 
ness in  the  folds,  in  which,  however,  there  is  much 
taste  and  simplicity,  though,  in  point  of  style,  as 
far  from  the  antique  as  from  the  complicated  mean- 
ness of  the  Byzantine  models  ;  and  it  is  curious  that 
this  peculiar  treatment  of  the  drapery,  these  long 
perpendicular  folds,  correspond  in  character  with 
the  principles  of  Gothic  architecture,  and  with  it 
rose  and  declined.  For  the  stiff,  wooden  limbs,  and 
motionless  figures,  of  the  Byzantine  school,  he  sub- 
stituted life,  movement,  and  the  look,  at  least,  of 
flexibility.  His  notions  of  grouping  and  arrange- 
ment he  seems  to  have  taken  from  the  ancient  basso- 
relievos  ;  there  is  a  statuesque  grace  and  simplicitj 
in  his  compositions  which  reminds  us  of  them.  His 
style  of  coloring  and  execution  was,  like  all  the 
rest,  an  innovation  on  received  methods  ;  his  colors 
were  lighter  and  more  roseate  than  had  ever  been 
known,  the  fluid  by  which  they  were  tempered 
more  thin  and  easily  managed,  and  his  frescoes 
must  have  been  skilfully  executed  to  have  stood  so 
well  as  they  have  done.  Their  duration  is,  indeed, 
nothing  compared  to  the  Egyptian  remains ;  but 
the  latter  have  been  for  ages  covered  up  from  light 
and  air,  in  a  dry,  sandy  climate.  Those  of  Giotto 
have  been  exposed  to  all  the  vicissitudes  of  weather 
and  of  underground  damp,  have  been  whitewashed 
and  every  way  ill-treated,  yet  the  fragments  which 


GIOTTO. 


41 


remain  have  still  a  surprising  freshness,  and  his 
distemper  pictures  are  still  wonderful.  It  is  to  be 
regretted  that  the  reader  cannot  be  referred  to  any 
collection  in  England  for  an  example  of  the  char- 
acteristics here  enumerated.  We  have  not  in  the 
National  Gallery  a  single  example  of  Giotto  or  his 
scholars ;  the  earliest  picture  we  have  is  dated 
nearly  two  hundred  years  after  his  death.  The 
only  one  in  the  Louvre  (a  St.  Francis,  as  large  as 
life)  is  dubious  and  unworthy  of  him.  In  the  Flor- 
entine Gallery  are  three  pictures  :  Christ  on  the 
Mount  of  Olives,  one  of  his  best  works  ;  and  two 
Madonnas,  with  graceful  angels.  In  the  gallery  of 
the  Academy  of  Arts,  in  the  same  city,  are  more 
than  twenty  small  pictures  (the  best  works  of  Giotto 
lire  on  a  small  scale  —  these  measure  about  a  foot  in 
height).  Two  of  the  same  series  are  at  Berlin,  all 
representing  subjects  from  the  life  and  acts  of  Christ  , 
of  the  Virgin,  or  St.  Francis.  Those  who  are  curi- 
ous may  consult  the  engravings  after  Giotto,  in  the 
plates  to  the  "  Storia  della  Pittura,"  of  Rosini  ; 
those  in  D' Agincourt's  "  Histoire  de  l'Art  par  les 
Monumens  ;  "  and  in  Ottley's  "  Early  Italian 
School,"  a  copy  of  which  is  in  the  British  Museum. 

Giotto's  personal  character  and  disposition  had 
no  small  part  in  the  revolution  he  effected.  In  the 
union  of  endowments  which  seldom  meet  together 
in  the  same  individual  —  extraordinary  inventive 
and  poetical  genius,  with  sound,  practical,  ener- 
getic sense,  and  untiring  activity  and  energy  — 


/ 


42 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


Giotto  resembled  Rubens  ;  and  only  this  rare  com- 
bination could  have  enabled  him  to  fling  off  so  com- 
pletely all  the  fetters  of  the  old  style,  and  to  have 
executed  the  amazing  number  of  works  which  are 
with  reason  attributed  to  him.  His  character  was 
as  independent  in  other  matters  as  in  his  own  art. 
He  seems  to  have  had  little  reverence  for  received 
opinions  about  anything,  and  was  singularly  free 
from  the  superstitious  enthusiasm  of  the  times  in 
which  he  lived,  although  he  lent  his  powers  to  em- 
bodying that  very  superstition.  Perhaps  the  very 
circumstance  of  his  being  employed  in  painting 
the  interiors  of  churches  and  monasteries  opened 
to  his  acute,  discerning,  and  independent  mind 
reflections  which  took  away  some  of  the  respect  for 
the  mysteries  they  concealed.  There  is  extant  a 
poem  of  Giotto's,  entitled  "  A  Song  against  Pov- 
erty," which  becomes  still  more  piquante  in  itself, 
and  expressive  of  the  peculiar  turn  of  Giotto's  mind, 
when  we  remember  that  he  had  painted  the  Glorifi- 
cation of  Poverty  as  the  Bride  of  St.  Francis,  and 
that  in  those  days  songs  in  praise  of  poverty  were  as 
fashionable  as  devotion  to  St.  Francis,  the  "Patri- 
arch of  Poverty."  Giotto  was  celebrated,  too,  for 
his  joyous  temper,  for  his  witty  and  satirical  repar- 
tees, and  seems  to  have  been  as  careful  of  his  worldly 
goods  as  he  was  diligent  in  acquiring  them.  Boc- 
caccio relates  an  anecdote  of  him,  not  very  import- 
ant, but,  as  it  contains  several  traits  which  are 
divertingly  characteristic,  we  will  give  it  here  • 


GIOTTO. 


43 


•'Fair  and  dear  ladies  !  "  (Thus  the  novelist  ia 
wont  to  address  his  auditory.)  "  It  is  a  wondrous 
thing  to  see  how  oftentimes  nature  hath  been 
pleased  to  hide  within  the  most  misshapen  forms 
the  most  wondrous  treasures  of  soul,  which  is  evi- 
dent in  the  persons  of  two  of  our  fellow-citizens,  of 
whom  I  shall  now  briefly  discourse  to  you.  Messer 
Forese  da  Rabatta,  the  advocate,  being  a  personage 
of  the  most  extraordinary  wisdom,  and  learned  in 
the  law  above  all  others,  yet  was  in  body  mean 
and  deformed,  with,  thereunto,  a  flat,  currish 
(ricagnato)  physiognomy  ;  and  Messer  Giotto,  who 
was  not  in  face  or  person  one  whit  better  favored 
than  the  said  Messer  Forese,  had  a  genius  of  that 
excellence,  that  there  was  nothing  which  nature 
(who  is  the  mother  of  all  things)  could  bring  forth, 
but  he  with  his  ready  pencil  would  so  wondrously 
imitate  it,  that  it  seemed  not  only  similar,  but  the 
same;  thus  deluding  the  visual  sense  of  men,  so 
that  they  deemed  that  what  was  only  pictured 
before  them  did  in  reality  exist.  And  seeing  that 
through  Giotto  that  art  was  restored  to  light  which 
had  been  for  many  centuries  buried  (through  fault 
of  those  who,  in  painting,  addressed  themselves  to 
please  the  eye  of  the  vulgar,  and  not  to  content  the 
understanding  of  the  wise) ,  I  esteem  him  worthy  to 
be  placed  among  those  who  have  made  famous  and 
glorious  this  our  city  of  Florence.  Nevertheless, 
though  so  great  a  man  in  his  art,  he  was  but  little 
in  person,  and,  as  I  have  said,  ill-favored  enough 


44 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


Now,  it  happened  that  Messer  Forese  and  Giotto 
had  possessions  in  land  in  Mugello,  which  is  on  the 
road  leading  from  Florence  to  Bologna,  and  thither 
they  rode  one  day  on  their  respective  affairs,  Messer 
Forese  being  mounted  on  a  sorry  hired  jade,  and 
the  other  in  no  better  case.  It  was  summer,  and 
the  rain  came  on  suddenly  and  furiously,  and  they 
hastened  to  take  shelter  in  the  house  of  a  peasant 
thereabouts,  who  was  known  to  them  ;  but,  the 
storm  still  prevailing,  they,  considering  that  they 
must  of  necessity  return  to  Florence  the  same  day, 
borrowed  from  the  peasant  two  old,  worn-out  pil- 
grim-cloaks, and  two  rusty  old  hats,  and  so  they 
set  forth.  They  had  not  proceeded  very  far,  when 
they  found  themselves  wet  through  with  the  rain, 
and  all  bespattered  with  the  mud  ;  but,  after  a 
while,  the  weather  clearing  in  some  small  degree, 
they  took  heart,  and  from  being  silent  they  began 
to  discourse  of  various  matters.  Messer  Forese 
having  listened  a  while  to  Giotto,  who  was  in  truth 
a  man  most  eloquent  and  lively  in  speech,  could  not 
help  casting  on  him  a  glance  as  he  rode  alongside  ; 
and,  considering  him  from  head  to  foot  thus  wet, 
ragged,  and  splashed  all  over,  and  thus  mounted 
and  accoutred,  and  not  taking  his  own  appearance 
into  account,  he  laughed  aloud.  '  0,  Giotto,'  said 
he,  jeeringly,  '  if  a  stranger  were  now  to  meet  us, 
could  he,  looking  on  you,  believe  it  possible  that 
you  were  the  greatest  painter  in  the  whole  world  ? 
— '  Certainly,'  quoth  Giotto,  with  a  side  glance  at 


GIOTTO. 


45 


his  companion ,  1  certainly,  if,  looking  upon  you* 
worship,  he  could  believe  it  possible  that  you  knew 
your  ABC!'  Whereupon  Messer  Forese  could 
not  but  confess  that  he  had  been  paid  in  his  own 
i  coin . ' ' 

This  is  one  of  many  humorous  repartees  which 
tradition  has  preserved,  and  an  instance  of  that 
readiness  of  wit  —  that  prontezza  —  for  which  Gi- 
otto was  admired  ;  in  fact,  he  seems  to  have  pre- 
sented in  himself,  in  the  union  of  depth  and  liveli- 
ness, of  poetical  fancy  and  worldly  sense,  of  inde- 
pendent spirit  and  polished  suavity,  an  epitome  of 
the  national  character  of  the  Florentines,  such  as 
Sismondi  has  drawn  it.  We  learn,  from  the  hyper- 
boles used  by  Boccaccio,  the  sort  of  rapturous  sur- 
prise which  Giotto's  imitation  of  life  caused  in  his 
imaginative  contemporaries,  and  which  assuredly 
they  would  be  far  from  exciting  now ;  and  the 
unceremonious  description  of  his  person  becomes 
more  amusing  when  we  recollect  that  Boccaccio 
must  have  lived  in  personal  intercourse  with  the 
painter,  as  did  Petrarch  and  Dante.  When  Giotto 
died,  in  1336,  his  friend  Dante  had  been  dead  fifteen 
years  ;  Petrarch  was  thirty-two,  and  Boccaccio 
twenty-three  years  of  age.  When  Petrarch  died, 
in  1374,  he  left  to  his  friend  Francesco  da  Carrara, 
Lord  of  Padua,  a  Madonna,  painted  by  Giotto,  as 
a  most  precious  legacy,  "  a  wonderful  piece  of 
work,  of  which  the  ignorant  might  overlook  the 
beauties,  but  which  the  learned  must  regard  with 


46 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


amazement."  All  writers  who  treat  of  the  ancient 
glories  of  Florence,  —  Florence  the  beautiful,  Flor- 
ence the  free, — from  Villani  down  to  Sismoncli, 
count  Giotto  in  the  roll  of  her  greatest  men.  An- 
tiquaries and  connoisseurs  in  art  search  out  and 
study  the  relics  which  remain  to  us,  and  recognize 
in  them  the  dawn  of  that  splendor  which  reached 
its  zenith  in  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century ; 
while  to  the  philosophic  observer  Giotto  appears 
as  one  of  those  few  heaven-endowed  beings  whose 
development  springs  from  a  source  within,  —  one 
of  those  unconscious  instruments  in  the  hand  of 
Providence,  who,  in  seeking  their  own  profit  and 
delight  through  the  expansion  of  their  own  facul- 
ties, make  unawares  a  step  forward  in  human  cul- 
ture, lend  a  new  impulse  to  human  aspirations, 
and,  like  the  44  bright  morning  star,  day's  harbin- 
ger,'' may  be  merged  in  the  succeeding  radiance, 
but  never  forgotten. 

Before  we  pass  on  to  the  scholars  and  imitators 
of  Giotto,  who  during  the  next  century  filled  all 
Italy  with  schools  of  art,  we  may  here  make  men- 
tion of  one  or  two  of  his  contemporaries,  not  so 
much  for  any  performances  left  behind  tbem,  but 
because  they  have  been  commemorated  by  men 
more  celebrated  than  themselves,  and  survive  em- 
balmed in  their  works  as  "  flies  in  amber."  Dante 
has  mentioned,  in  his  "  Purgatorio,"  two  painters 
of  the  time,  famous  for  their  miniature  illustrations 
of  Missals  and  MSS.  Before  the  invention  of  print- 


GIOTTO. 


47 


ing,  and  indeed  for  some  time  after,  this  was  an 
important  branch  of  art.  It  flourished  from  the 
days  of  Charlemagne  to  those  of  Charles  V. ,  and 
was  a  source  of  honor  as  well  as  riches  to  the  lay- 
men who  practised  it.  Many,  however,  of  the  most 
beautiful  specimens  of  illuminated  manuscripts  are 
the  work  of  the  nameless  Benedictine  monks,  who 
labored  in  the  silence  and  seclusion  of  their  con- 
vents, and  who  }delded  to  their  community  most  of 
the  honor  and  all  the  profit.  This  was  not  the  case 
with  Oderigi,  whom  Dante  has  represented  as  ex- 
piating in  purgatory  his  excessive  vanity  as  a 
painter,  and  humbly  giving  the  palm  to  another, 
Franco  Bolognese,  of  whom  there  remains  no  relic 
but  a  Madonna,  engraved  in  Rosini's  "  Storia  della 
Pittura."  He  retains,  however,  a  name  as  the 
founder  of  the  early  Bolognese  school.  The  fame 
of  Buffalinacco  as  a  jovial  companion,  and  the  tales 
told  in  Boccaccio  of  his  many  inventions  and  the 
tricks  he  played  on  his  brother-painter,  the  simple 
Calandrino,  have  survived  almost  every  relic  of  his 
pencil.  Yet  he  appears  to  have  been  a  good  painter 
of  that  time,  and  to  have  imitated,  in  his  later 
works,  the  graceful  simplicity  of  Giotto.*  He  had 
also  much  honor  and  sufficient  employment,  but, 

*  An  elegant  little  figure  of  St.  Catherine,  attributed  to  Buffal- 
ma?co,  is  engraved  in  Rosini,  p.  52.  A  picture  of  St.  Ursula,  an 
early  work  of  the  same  painter,  is  quite  Byzantine  in  style.  The 
Frescoes  in  the  Campo  Santo,  at  Pisa,  so  long  attributed  to  him,  ax* 
by  another  hand.    (See  Kugler  and  Rumohr.) 


48 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


having  been  more  intent  on  spending  than  earning 
he  died  miserably  poor  in  1340. 

Cavallini  studied  under  Giotto,  at  Rome,  bu) 
seems  never  to  have  wholly  laid  aside  the  Greekish 
style  in  which  he  had  been  first  educated.  He  was 
a  man  of  extreme  simplicity  and  sanctity  of  mind 
and  manners,  and  felt  some  scruples  in  condemning 
as  an  artist  the  Madonnas  before  which  he  had 
knelt  in  prayer.  This  feeling  of  earnest  piety  ho 
communicated  to  all  his  works.  There  is  by  him 
a  picture  of  the  Annunciation  preserved  in  tho 
church  of  St.  Mark,  at  Florence,  in  which  the  ex 
pression  of  piety  and  modesty  in  the  Virgin,  and  oi 
reverence  in  the  kneeling  angel,  is  perfectly  beau 
tiful.  The  same  devout  feeling  enabled  him  to  rise 
i,o  the  sublime  in  a  grand  picture  of  the  Crucifixion 
which  he  painted  in  the  church  of  Assisi,  and  which 
is  reckoned  one  of  the  most  important  monuments 
of  the  Giotto  school.  The  resignation  of  the  divine 
sufferer,  the  lamenting  angels,  the  fainting  Virgin, 
the  groups  of  Roman  soldiers,  are  all  painted  with 
a  truth  and  feeling  quite  wonderful  for  the  tuna. 
Engravings  after  Cavallini  may  be  found  m  Otr 
tley's  •*  Early  Italian  School,"  and  in  Rosini  (p. 
21) .  He  became  the  pupil  of  Giotto  when  nearlj 
forty  years  old,  and  survived  him  only  a  short 
time,  dying  in  1340.  With  Cavallini  begins  the 
list  of  painters  of  the  Roman  school,  afterwards  so 
illustrious.  Among  the  contemporaries  of  Giotto 
we  must  refer  once  more  to  Duccio  of  Sienna, 


GIOTTO. 


49 


Though  an  established  painter  in  his  native  city 
when  Giotto  was  a  child,  his  later  works  show  that 
the  influence  of  that  young  and  daring  spirit  had 
given  a  new  impulse  to  his  mind.  His  best  picture, 
dtill  preserved,  and  described  with  enthusiasm  in 
Kugler's  "  Handbook,"  was  painted  in  1311. 
Duccio  died  very  old,  about  1339. 

The  scholars  and  imitators  of  Giotto,  who  adopted 
the  ne'  i  method  (il  nuovo  metodo) ,  as  it  was  then 
called,  and  who  collectively  are  distinguished  as 
the  Scuola  Giottesca,  may  be  divided  into  two 
classes :  1.  Those  who  were  merely  his  assistants 
and  imitators,  who  confined  themselves  to  the  re- 
production of  the  models  left  by  their  master. 
2.  Those  who,  gifted  with  original  genius,  followed 
his  example  rather  than  his  instructions,  pursued 
the  path  he  had  opened  to  them,  introduced  better 
methods  of  study,  more  correct  design,  and  carried 
on  in  various  departments  the  advance  of  art  into 
the  succeeding  century. 

Of  the  first  it  is  not  necessary  to  speak.  Among 
the  men  of  great  and  original  genius  who  immedi- 
ately succeeded  Giotto,  three  must  be  especially 
mentioned  for  the  importance  of  the  works  they 
have  left,  and  for  the  influence  they  exercised  on 
those  who  came  after  them.  These  were  Andrea 
Orcagna,  Simone  Memmi,  and  Taddeo  Gaddi. 

The  first  of  these,  Andrea  Cioni,  commonly  called 
Andrea  Orcagna,  did  not  study  under  Giotto,  but 
owed  much  indirectly  to  that  vivifying  influence 
4 


50 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


which  he  breathed  through  art.  Andrea  was  the 
Bon  of  a  goldsmith  at  Florence.  The  goldsmiths 
of  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries  were  in 
general  excellent  designers,  and  not  unfrequently 
became  painters,  as  in  the  instances  of  Francia, 
Verrochio,  Andrea  del  Sarto,  &c.  Andrea  appar- 
ently learned  design  under  the  tuition  of  his 
father.  Rosini  places  his  birth  previous  to  the 
year  1310.  In  the  year  1332  he  had  already  ac- 
quired so  much  celebrity,  that  he  was  called  upon 
to  continue  the  decoration  of  the  Campo  Santo  at 
Pisa. 

This  seems  the  proper  place  to  give  a  more  de- 
tailed account  of  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  and 
interesting  monuments  of  the  middle  ages.  The 
Campo  Santo  of  Pisa,  like  the  cathedral  at  Assisi, 
was  an  arena  in  which  the  best  artists  of  the  time 
were  summoned  to  try  their  powers  ;  but  the  in- 
fluence of  the  frescoes  in  the  Campo  Santo  on  the 
progress  and  development  of  art  was  yet  more  direct 
and  important  than  that  of  the  paintings  in  the 
church  of  Assisi. 

The  Campo  Santo,  or  the  "  Holy  Field,"  once  a 
cemetery,  though  no  longer  used  as  such,  is  an  open 
space  of  about  four  hundred  feet  in  length  and  one 
hundred  and  eighteen  feet  in  breadth,  enclosed  with 
high  walls,  and  an  arcade,  something  like  the  clois- 
ters of  a  monastery,  or  cathedral,  running  all 
round  it.  On  the  east  side  is  a  large  chapel,  and 
on  the  north  two  smaller  chapels,  where  prayers 


GIOTTO. 


51 


and  masses  are  celebrated  for  the  repose  of  the 
dead.  The  open  space  was  filled  with  earth  brought 
from  the  Holy  Land  by  the  merchant  ships  of  Pisa, 
which  traded  to  the  Levant  in  the  days  of  its  com- 
mercial splendor.  This  open  space,  once  sown 
With  graves,  is  now  covered  with  green  turf.  At 
the  four  corners  are  four  tall  cypress- trees,  their 
dark,  monumental,  spiral  forms  contrasting  with 
a  little  lowly  cross  in  the  centre,  round  which  ivy 
or  some  other  creeping  plant  has  wound  a  luxuri- 
ant bower.  The  beautiful  Gothic  arcade  was  de- 
signed and  built  about  1283  by  Giovanni  Pisano, 
the  son  of  the  great  Nicola  Pisano  already  men- 
tioned. This  arcade,  on  the  side  next  the  burial- 
ground,  is  pierced  by  sixty-two  windows  of  elegant 
tracery,  divided  from  each  other  by  slender  pilas- 
ters ;  upwards  of  six  hundred  sepulchral  monu- 
ments of  the  nobles  and  citizens  of  Pisa  are  ranged 
along  the  marble  pavements,  and  mingled  with 
them  are  some  antique  remains  of  great  beauty 
which  the  Pisans  in  former  times  brought  from  the 
Greek  Isles.  Here  also  is  seen  the  famous  sarcoph- 
agus  which  first  inspired  the  genius  of  Nicola 
Pisano,  and  in  which  had  been  deposited  the  body 
of  Beatrix,  mother  of  the  famous  Countess  Matilda. 
The  walls  opposite  to  the  windows  were  painted  in 
the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries  with  scrip- 
tural subjects.  Most  of  these  are  half  ruined  by 
time,  neglect,  and  damp  ;  some  only  present  frag- 
ments —  here  an  arm,  there  a  head  ;  and  the  best 


52 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


preserved  are  faded,  discolored,  ghastly  in  appear* 
ance,  and  solemn  in  subject.  The  whole  aspect  of 
this  singular  place,  particularly  to  those  who 
wander  through  its  long  arcades  at  the  close  of  day, 
when  the  figures  on  the  pictured  walls  look  dim 
and  spectral  through  the  gloom,  and  the  cypresses 
assume  a  blacker  hue,  and  all  the  associations  con- 
nected with  its  sacred  purpose  and  its  history  rise 
upon  the  fancy,  has  in  its  silence  and  solitude, 
and  religious  destination,  something  inexpressibly 
strange,  dreamy,  solemn,  almost  awful.  Seen  in 
the  broad  ghire  of  noonday,  the  place  and  the  pic- 
tures lose  something  of  their  power  over  the  fancy  T 
and  that  which  last  night  haunted  us  as  a  vision^ 
to-day  we  examine,  study,  criticize. 

The  building  of  the  Campo  Santo  was  scarcely 
finished  when  the  best  painters  of  the  time  were 
summoned  to  paint  the  walls  all  round  the  interior 
with  appropriate  subjects.  This  was  a  work  of 
many  years.  It  was  indeed  continued  at  intervals 
through  two  centuries ;  and  thus  we  have  a  series 
of  illustrations  of  the  progress  of  art  during  its  first 
development,  of  the  religious  influences  of  the  age, 
and  even  of  the  habits  and  manners  of  the  people, 
which  are  faithfully  exhibited  in  some  of  these  most 
extraordinary  compositions. 

Those  first  executed,  in  the  large  chapel  and  on 
the  walls  of  the  cloisters,  at  the  end  of  the  thir- 
teenth and  in  the  very  beginning  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  have  perished  wholly  ;  the  earliest  in  date 


GIOTTO. 


53 


which  still  exist  represent  the  Passion  of  our 
Saviour  in  a  rude  but  solemn  style.  We  find  here 
the  accompaniments  usual  in  this  subject  from  the 
earliest  time,  and  which,  from  their  perpetual  rep- 
etition down  to  a  late  period,  appear  to  be  tra* 
ditional  —  the  lamenting  angels,  the  sorrowing 
women,  the  Virgin  fainting  at  the  foot  of  the  cross. 
Two  angels  at  the  head  of  the  repentant  thief  pre- 
pare to  carry  his  soul  into  Paradise ;  two  demons 
perched  on  the  cross  of  the  reprobate  thief  are  ready 
to  seize  his  spirit  the  moment  it  is  released,  and 
bear  it  to  the  regions  below.  This  fresco  and 
another  have  been  traditionally  attributed  to  the 
Buffalmacco  of  facetious  memory,  already  men- 
tioned ;  but  this  is  now  supposed  to  be  an  error. 

A  series  of  subjects  from  the  Book  of  Job  was 
painted  by  Giotto.  Of  these  only  fragments  remain. 
Then  followed  Andrea  Orcagna  ;  and  the  subjects 
selected  by  him  were  such  as  harmonized  peculiarly 
with  the  destination  of  these  sacred  precincts. 
They  were  to  represent  in  four  great  compartments 
what  the  Italians  call  "  I  quattro  novissijni^  that 
is,  the  four  last  or  latest  things  —  Death,  Judg- 
ment, Hell,  or  Purgatory,  and  Paradise  ;  But  only 
three  were  completed. 

The  first  is  styled  the  Triumph  of  Death  (II  Tri- 
onfo  delta  Morte).  It  is  full  of  poetry,  and  abound- 
ing in  ideas  then  new  in  pictorial  art.  On  the 
right  is  a  festive  company  of  ladies  and  cavaliers, 
who  by  their  falcons  and  dogs  appear  to  be  returned 


54 


EAltLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


from  the  chase.  They  are  seated  under  orange- 
trees,  and  splendidly  attired ;  rich  carpets  are 
spread  at  their  feet.  A  troubadour  and  singing- 
girl  amuse  them  with  nattering  songs ;  Cupids 
nutter  around  them  and  wave  their  torches.  All 
the  pleasures  of  sense  and  joys  of  earth  are  here 
united.  On  the  left  Death  approaches  with  rapid 
flight, —  a  fearful-looking  woman,  with  wild  stream- 
ing hair,  claws  instead  of  nails,  large  bats'  wings, 
and  indestructible  wire-woven  drapery.  She  swings 
a  scythe  in  her  hand,  and  is  on  the  point  of  mow- 
ing down  the  joys  of  the  company.  (This  female 
impersonation  of  Death  is  supposed  to  be  borrowed 
from  Petrarch,  whose  "  Trionfo  della  Morte  "  was 
written  about  this  time.)  A  host  of  corpses  closely 
pressed  together  lie  at  her  feet.  By  their  insignia 
they  are  almost  all  to  be  recognized  as  the  former 
rulers  of  the  world,  —  kings,  queens,  cardinals, 
bishops,  princes,  warriors,  &c.  Their  souls  rise 
out  of  them  in  the  form  of  new-born  infants ; 
angels  and  demons  are  ready  to  receive  them  ;  the 
souls  of  the  pious  fold  their  hands  in  prayer  ;  those 
of  the  condemned  shrink  back  in  horror.  The 
angels  are  peculiarly  yet  happily  conceived,  with 
bird-like  forms  and  variegated  plumage  ;  the  devils 
have  the  semblance  of  beasts  of  prey  or  of  disgust- 
ing reptiles.  They  fight  with  each  other.  On  the 
right  the  angels  ascend  to  heaven  with  those  they 
nave  saved,  while  the  demons  drag  their  prey  to  a 
fiery  mountain,  visible  on  the  left,  and  hurl  the 


GIOTTO 


55 


Bouls  down  into  the  flames.  Next  to  these  corpses 
is  a  crowd  of  beggars  and  cripples,  who  with  out- 
stretched arms  call  upon  Death  to  end  their  sor- 
rows ;  but  she  heeds  not  their  prayer,  and  has 
already  passed  them  in  her  flight.  A  rock  sepa- 
rates this  scene  from  another,  in  which  is  repre- 
sented a  second  hunting  party  descending  the  moun- 
tain by  a  hollow  path  ;  here  again  are  richly-attired 
princes  and  dames  on  horses  splendidly  caparisoned, 
and  a  train  of  hunters  with  falcons  and  dogs.  The 
path  has  led  them  to  three  open  sepulchres  in  the 
left  corner  of  the  picture  ;  in  them  lie  the  bodies 
of  three  princes,  in  different  stages  of  decay.  Close 
by,  in  extreme  old  age  and  supported  on  crutches, 
stands  the  old  hermit  St.  Macarius,  who,  turning 
to  the  princes,  points  down  to  this  bitter  "  Memento 
mori."  They  look  on  apparently  with  indifference, 
and  one  of  them  holds  his  nose,  as  if  incommoded 
by  the  horrible  stench.  One  queenly  lady  alone, 
deeply  moved,  rests  her  head  on  her  hand,  her 
countenance  full  of  a  pensive  sorrow.  On  the 
mountain  heights  are  several  hermits,  who,  in  con- 
tract to  the  followers  of  the  joys  of  the  world,  have 
attained  in  a  life  of  contemplation  and  abstinence 
to  a  state  of  tranquil  blessedness.  One  of  them 
milks  a  doe,  squirrels  are  sporting  round  him  ;  an- 
other sits  and  reads ;  and  a  third  looks  down  into 
the  valley,  where  the  remains  of  the  mighty  are 
mouldering  away.  There  is  a  tradition  that  among 


56  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 

the  personages  in  these  pictures  are  many  portra;  *r 
of  the  artist's  contemporaries. 

The  second  representation  is  the  Last  Judgment 
Above,  in  the  centre,  Christ  and  the  Virgin  are 
throned  in  separate  glories.  He  turns  to  the  left, 
towards  the  condemned,  while  he  uncovers  the 
wound  in  his  side,  and  raises  his  right  arm  with  a 
menacing  gesture,  his  countenance  full  of  majestic 
wrath.  The  Virgin,  on  the  right  of  her  Son,  is  the 
picture  of  heavenly  mercy ;  and,  as  if  terrified  at 
the  words  of  eternal  condemnation,  she  turns  away. 
On  either  side  are  ranged  the  prophets  of  the  Old 
Testament,  the  Apostles  and  other  saints  —  severe, 
solemn,  dignified  figures.  Angels,  holding  the  in- 
struments of  the  Passion,  hover  over  Christ  and 
the  Virgin  ;  under  them  is  a  group  of  archangels. 
The  archangel  Michael  stands  in  the  midst,  holding 
a  scroll  in  each  hand  ;  immediately  before  him  an- 
other archangel,  supposed  to  represent  Raphael,  the 
guardian  angel  of  humanity,  cowers  down,  shudder- 
ing, while  two  others  sound  the  awful  trumpets  of 
doom.  Lower  down  is  the  earth,  where  men  are 
seen  rising  from  their  graves ;  armed  angels  direct 
them  to  the  right  and  left.  Here  is  seen  King  Sol- 
omon, who,  whilst  he  rises,  seems  doubtful  to  which 
side  he  should  turn  ;  here  a  hypocritical  monk, 
whom  an  angel  draws  back  by  the  hair  from  the 
host  of  the  blessed  ;  and  there  a  youth  in  a  gay 
and  rich  costume,  whom  another  angel  leads  awaj 
to  Paradise.    There  is  wonderful  and  even  terrible 


GIOTTO. 


57 


power  Df  expression  in  some  of  the  heads  ;  and  it  is 
said  that  among  them  are  many  portraits  of  con- 
temporaries, but  unfortunately  no  circumstantial 
traditions  as  to  particular  figures  have  reached  us. 
The  attitudes  of  Christ  and  the  Virgin  were  after- 
wards borrowed  by  Michael  Angelo,  in  his  cele- 
brated Last  Judgment;  but,  notwithstanding  the- 
perfection  of  his  forms,  he  stands  far  below  the 
dignified  grandeur  of  the  old  master.  Later  paint- 
ers have  also  borrowed  from  his  arrangement  of  the 
patriarchs  and  apostles  —  particularly  Fra  Barto- 
lomeo  and  Raphael. 

The  third  representation,  directly  succeeding  the 
foregoing,  is  Hell.  It  is  said  to  have  been  executed 
from  a  design  of  Andrea,  by  his  brother  Bernardo. 
It  is  altogether  inferior  to  the  preceding  represent- 
ations in  execution,  and  even  in  the  composition. 
Here,  the  imagination  of  the  painter,  unrestrained 
by  any  just  rules  of  taste,  degenerates  into  the 
monstrous  and  disgusting,  and  even  the  grotesque 
and  ludicrous.  Hell  is  here  represented  as  a  great 
locky  caldron,  divided  into  four  compartments  ris- 
iig  one  above  the  other.  In  the  midst  sits  Satan, 
a  fearful  armed  giant  —  himself  a  fiery  furnace,  out 
of  whose  body  flames  arise  in  different  places,  in 
y>hicli  sinners  are  consumed  or  crushed.  In  other 
j  arts,  the  condemned  are  seen  spitted  like  fowls, 
and  roasted  and  basted  by  demons,  with  other  such 
atrocious  fancies,  too  horrible  and  sickening  fur 
description.     The  lower  part  of  the  picture  was 


58 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


badly  painted  over  and  altered  according  to  the 
taste  of  the  day,  in  the  sixteenth  century  ;  certainly 
not  for  the  better.* 

Andrea  Orcagna  is  supposed  to  have  painted 
these  frescoes  about  1335,  and  he  died  about  1370. 

Simone  Martini,  usually  called  Simone  Memmi, 
was  a  painter  of  Sienna,  of  whom  very  few  works 
remain  ;  but  the  friendship  of  Petrarch  has  ren- 
dered his  name  illustrious.  Simone  Memmi  was 
employed  at  Avignon,  when  it  was  the  seat  of  the 
popes  (about  1340) ,  and  there  he  painted  the  por- 
trait of  Laura,  and  presented  it  to  Petrarch,  who 
rewarded  him  with  two  Sonnets  —  and  immortality. 
Simone  also  painted  a  famous  picture  on  the  wall 
of  the  Spanish  chapel  in  the  church  of  Santa  Maria 
Novella,  which  may  still  be  seen  there.  It  repre- 
sents the  church  militant  and  triumphant  —  with 
a  great  number  of  figures,  among  which  are  the 
portraits  of  Cimabue,  Petrarch,  and  Laura.  He 
also  painted  in  the  Campo  Santo,  and  his  pictures 
there  are  among  the  finest  in  expression  and  in 
grouping.  He  died  about  1345.  There  is  a  picture 
;n  the  Louvre,  at  Paris,  No.  1115,  attributed  to 
him.  It  represents  the  Virgin  crowned  in  Heaven 
amid  a  chorus  of  angels,  a  subject  frequently  treated 
by  Giotto  and  his  scholars. 

Pietro  Lorenzetti  painted  in  the  Campo  Santo 
the  Hermits  in  the  Wilderness.    They  are  repre- 

*  The  foregoing  account  of  the  paintings  of  Andrea  Orcagna  if 
taken,  with  alterations,  from  Kugler's  "  Handbuch." 


GIOTTO. 


59 


sented  as  dwelling  in  caves  and  chapels,  upon  rocks 
and  mDuntains  ;  some  studying,  others  meditating, 
others  tempted  by  demons  in  various  horrible  or 
alluring  forms,  for  such  were  the  diseased  fancies 
which  haunted  a  solitary  and  unnatural  existence. 
As  the  laws  of  perspective  were  then  unknown,  the 
various  groups  of  hermits  and  their  dwellings  are 
represented  one  above  another,  and  all  of  the  same 
size,  much  like  the  figures  on  a  china  plate. 

Antonio  Veneziano  also  painted  in  the  Campo 
Santo,  about  1387,  and  showed  himself  superior 
to  all  who  had  preceded  him  in  feeling  and  grace, 
thoagh  inferior  to  Andrea  Orcagna  in  sublimity. 
A  certain  Spinello  of  Arezzo  was  next  employed, 
about  1380.  He  painted  the  story  of  St.  Ephesus. 
Spinello  seems  to  have  been  a  man  of  genius,  but 
of  most  unregulated  mind.  Vasari  tells  a  story  of 
him  which  shows  at  once  the  vehemence  of  his  fancy 
and  his  morbid  brain.  He  painted  a  picture  of  the 
Fallen  Angels,  in  which  he  had  labored  to  render 
the  figure  of  Satan  as  terrible,  as  deformed,  as  re- 
volting, as  possible.  The  image,  as  he  worked  upon 
it,  became  fixed  in  his  fancy,  and  haunted  him  in 
sleep.  He  dreamed  that  the  Prince  of  Hell  appeared 
before  him  under  the  horrible  form  in  which  he  had 
arrayed  him,  and  demanded  why  he  should  be  thus 
treated,  and  by  what  authority  the  painter  had 
represented  him  so  abominably  hideous.  Spinello 
awoke  in  terror.  Soon  afterwards  he  became  dis- 
tracted, and  so  died,  about  the  year  1400. 


60 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


But  the  great  painter  of  this  time,  the  third  al- 
luded to  above,  was  Taddeo  Gaddi,  the  favorite 
pupil  of  Giotto,  and  his  godson.  His  pictures  are 
considered  the  most  important  works  of  the  four- 
teenth century.  They  resemble  the  manner  of 
Giotto  in  the  feeling  for  truth,  nature,  and  sim- 
plicity ;  but  we  find  in  them  improved  execution, 
with  even  more  beauty  and  largeness  and  grandeur 
of  style.  His  pictures  are  numerous ;  several  are 
in  the  Academy  at  Florence,  apd  the  Museum  at 
Berlin  ;  none,  that  we  know  of,  in  England.  In 
Ottley's  engravings  of  the  early  Italian  school  are 
three  grand  seated  figures  of  the  Fathers  of  the 
Church,  from  Taddeo 's  most  famous  picture,  the 
fresco  in  the  Spanish  chapel  at  Florence,  usually 
entitled  the  Arts  and  Sciences.  Between  Taddeo 
Gaddi  and  Simone  Memmi  there  existed  an  ardent 
friendship  and  a  mutual  admiration,  which  did 
honor  to  both.  All  that  Taddeo  painted  in  the 
Campo  Santo  is  destroyed.  At  Paris,  in  the 
Louvre,  are  four  small  pictures  attributed  to  him  ; 
and  at  Berlin  four  others  larger,  more  important, 
and  more  authentic.  Another  of  Giotto's  most 
famous  followers  was  Tommaso  di  Stefano,  called 
Giottino,  or  "  the  little  Giotto,"  from  the  success 
with  which  he  emulated  his  master. 

Towards  the  close  of  this  century,  the  decoration 
of  the  Campo  Santo  was  interrupted  by  the  politi- 
cal misfortunes  and  internal  dissensions  which  dis- 
tracted the  city  of  Pisa,  and  were  not  resumed  foi 


GIOTTO. 


61 


nearly  a  hundred  years.  The  paintings  in  the 
church  of  Assisi  were  carried  on  by  Giottino  and 
by  Giovanni  di  Melano,  but  were  also  interrupted 
towards  the  close  of  this  century. 

We  have  mentioned  here  but  a  few  of  the  most 
prominent  names  among  the  multitude  of  painters 
who  flourished  from  1300  to  1400.  Before  we  enter 
on  a  new  century,  we  will  take  a  general  view  of  the 
progress  of  the  art  itself,  and  the  purposes  to  which 
it  was  applied. 

The  progress  made  in  painting  was  chiefly  by 
carrying  out  the  principles  of  Giotto  in  expression 
and  in  imitation.  Taddeo  Gaddi  and  Simone  ex- 
celled in  the  first ;  the  imitation  of  form  and  of 
natural  objects  was  so  improved  by  Stefano  Fioren- 
tino,  that  he  was  styled  by  his  contemporaries  II 
Scimia  delta  Natura,  "the  ape  of  Nature."  Giot- 
tino, the  son  of  this  Stefano,  and  others,  improved 
in  color,  in  softness  of  execution,  and  in  the  means 
and  mechanism  of  the  art ;  but  oil-painting  was 
not  yet  invented,  and  linear  perspective  was  un- 
known. Engraving  on  copper,  cutting  in  wood, 
and  printing,  were  the  inventions  of  the  next  cen- 
tury. Portraits  were  seldom  painted,  and  then 
only  of  very  distinguished  persons,  introduced  into 
large  compositions.  The  imitation  of  natural  scen- 
ery, that  is,  landscape  painting ,  as  a  branch  of  art, 
now  such  a  familiar  source  of  pleasure,  was  as  yet 
unthought  of.  When  landscape  was?  introduced 
into  pictures  as  a  background,  or  accessory,  it  was 


62 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


merely  to  indicate  the  scene  of  the  story.  A  rock 
represented  a  desert ;  some  formal  trees,  very  like 
brooms  set  on  end,  indicated  a  wood ;  a  bluish 
tjpace,  sometimes  with  fishes  in  it,  signified  a  river 
or  a  sea.  Yet  in  the  midst  of  this  ignorance,  this 
imperfect  execution,  and  limited  range  of  power, 
how  exquisitely  beautiful  are  some  of  the  remains 
of  this  early  time  !  affording  in  their  simple,  gen- 
uine grace,  and  lofty,  earnest,  and  devout  feeling, 
Dxamples  of  excellence  which  our  modern  painters 
are  beginning  to  feel  and  to  understand,  and  which 
the  great  Raphael  himself  did  not  disdain  to  study, 
and  even  to  copy. 

As  yet  the  purposes  to  which  painting  was  ap- 
plied were  almost  wholly  of  a  religious  character. 
No  sooner  was  a  church  erected,  than  the  walk 
were  covered  with  representations  of  sacred  sub- 
jects, either  from  scriptural  history  or  the  legends 
of  saints.  Devout  individuals  or  families  built  and 
consecrated  chapels ;  and  then,  at  great  cost,  em- 
ployed painters  either  to  decorate  the  walls  or  to 
paint  pictures  for  the  altars  ;  the  Madonna  and 
Child,  or  the  Crucifixion,  were  the  favorite  subjects 
—  the  donor  of  the  picture  or  founder  of  the  chapel 
being  often  represented  on  his  knees  in  a  corner  of 
the  picture,  and  sometimes  (as  more  expressive  of 
humility)  of  most  diminutive  size,  out  of  all  propor 
tion  to  the  other  figures.  The  doors  of  the  sacris- 
ties, and  of  the  presses  in  which  the  priests'  vest- 
ments were  keut,  were  often  covered  with  small 


GIOTTO. 


63 


pict\./es  of  scriptural  subjects  ;  as  were  also  the 
chests  in  which  were  deposited  the  utensils  for  the 
Holy  Sacrament.  Almost  all  the  small  movable 
pictures  of  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries 
which  have  come  down  to  us  are  either  the  altar- 
pieces  of  chapels  and  oratories,  or  have  been  cut 
from  the  panels  of  doors,  from  the  covers  of  chests, 
or  other  pieces  of  ecclesiastical  furniture. 


LORENZO  GHIBERTI. 


THE  GATES  OF  SAN  GIOVANNI. 

We  are  now  to  enter  on  a  view  of  the  progress 
of  painting  in  the  fifteenth  century  —  a  period  per- 
haps the  most  remarkable  in  the  whole  history  of 
mankind  ;  distinguished  by  the  most  extraordinary 
mental  activity,  by  rapid  improvement  in  the  arts 
of  life,  by  the  first  steady  advance  in  philosophicaJ 
inquiry,  by  the  restoration  of  classical  learning, 
and  by  two  great  events,  of  which  the  results  li* 
almost  beyond  the  reach  of  calculation  —  the  inven 
tion  of  the  art  of  printing,  and  the  discovery  ol 
America. 

The  progressive  impulse  which  characterized  thu 
memorable  period  was  felt  not  less  in  the  fine  arts. 
In  painting,  the  adoption  of  oils  in  the  mixing  of 
colors,  instead  of  the  aqueous  and  glutinous  vehi- 
cles formerly  used  for  the  purpose,  led  to  some 
most  important  results.  But  long  before  the  gene- 
ral adoption  of  this  and  other  improvements  in  the 
materials  employed,  there  had  been  a  strong  impulse 
given  to  the  mental  development  of  art,  of  which 
we  have  to  say  a  few  words  before  we  come  to 
treat  further  of  the  history  and  efforts  of  individual 
minds. 

(64) 


LORENZO  GHIBERTI. 


65 


During  the  fourteenth  century  we  find  all  [taly 
611ed  with  the  scholars  and  imitators  of  Giotto.  But 
in  the  fifteenth  there  was  a  manifest  striving  after 
originality  of  style  ;  a  branching  off  into  particular 
schools,  distinguished  by  the  predominance  of  some 
particular  characteristic  in  the  mode  of  treatment : 
as  expression,  form,  color,  the  tendency  to  the 
merely  imitative,  or  the  aspiration  towards  the 
spiritual  and  ideal.  At  this  time  we  begin  to  hear 
of  the  Neapolitan,  Umbrian,  Bolognese,  Venetian, 
and  Paduan  schools,  as  distinctly  characterized  ; 
but  from  1400  to  1450  we  still  find  the  Tuscan 
schools  in  advance  of  all  the  rest  in  power,  inven- 
tion, fertility,  and  in  the  application  of  knowledge 
and  mechanical  means  to  a  given  end  ;  and,  as  in 
the  thirteenth  century  we  traced  the  new  influence 
given  to  modern  art  by  Giotto  back  to  the  sculptor 
Nicola  Pisano,  so  in  the  fifteenth  century  we  find 
the  influence  of  another  sculptor,  Lorenzo  Ghiberti, 
producing  an  effect  on  his  contemporaries,  more 
especially  his  fellow-citizens,  which,  by  developing 
and  perfecting  the  principles  of  imitation  on  which 
Giotto  had  worked,  stamped  that  peculiar  charac- 
ter on  Florentine  art  which  distinguished  it  all 
through  the  century  of  whicn  we  have  now  to 
speak,  and  the  beginning  of  the  next. 

For  these  reasons,  the  story  of  Ghiberti,  and  the 
casting  of  the  famous  gates  of  San  Giovanni,  may 
be  considered  as  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  paint- 
ing. We  shall  find,  as  we  proceed,  almost  every 
5 


EARL'S  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


great  name,  and  every  important  advance  in  art, 
connected  with  it  directly  or  indirectly  ;  while  the 
competition  which  is  about  to  take  place  among 
our  own  artists,  with  a  view  to  the  decoration  of 
the  houses  of  Parliament,  lends,  at  the  present  mo- 
ment, a  particular  interest  and  application  to  this 
beautiful  anecdote. 

Florence,  at  the  period  of  which  we  speak,  was 
at  the  head  of  all  the  states  of  Italy,  and  at  the 
height  of  its  prosperity.  The  government  was 
essentially  democratic  in  spirit  and  form  ;  every 
class  and  interest  in  the  state —  the  aristocracy,  the 
military,  merchants,  tradesmen,  and  mechanics  — 
had  each  a  due  share  of  power,  and  served  to 
balance  each  other.  The  family  of  the  Medici,  who 
a  century  later  seized  on  the  sovereignty,  were  at 
this  time  only  among  the  most  distinguished  citi- 
zens, and  members  of  a  great  mercantile  house,  at 
the  head  of  which  was  Giovanni,  the  father  of 
Cosmo  de'  Medici.  The  trades  were  divided  into 
guilds  or  companies,  called  Arti,  which  were  rep- 
resented in  the  government  by  twenty-four  Con- 
soli,  or  consuls.  It  was  these  consuls  of  the  guild 
of  merchants  who,  in  th*  year  1401,  undertook  to 
erect  a  second  gate  or  door  of  bronze  to  the  Bap- 
tistery of  St.  John,  which  should  form  a  pendant  ta 
the  first,  executed  in  the  preceding  century  (1330), 
by  Andrea  Pisano,  from  the  designs  of  Giotto,  and 
representing  in  rich  sculpture  the  various  events  of 


LORENZO  GHIBERTI. 


G7 


the  life  of  St.  John  the  Baptist.*  To  equal  or  pur- 
pass  this  beautiful  gate,  which  had  been  for  half  a 
century  the  admiration  of  all  Italy,  was  the  object 
proposed,  and  no  expense  was  to  be  sparod  in  its 
attainment. 

The  Signoria,  or  members  of  the  chief  govern- 
ment, acting  in  conjunction  with  the  Consoli,  made 
known  their  munificent  resolve  through  all  Italy, 
and,  in  consequence,  not  only  the  best  artists  of 
Florence,  but  many  from  other  cities,  particularly 
Siena  and  Bologna,  assembled  on  this  occasion. 
From  among  a  great  number,  seven  were  selected 
by  the  Consoli  as  worthy  to  compete  for  the  work, 
upon  terms  not  merely  just,  but  munificent.  Each 
competitor  received,  besides  his  expenses,  a  fair  in- 
demnity for  his  labor  for  one  year.  The  subject 
proposed  was  the  Sacrifice  of  Isaac,  and  at  the  end 
of  the  year  each  artist  was  required  to  give  in  a 
design,  executed  in  bronze,  of  the  same  size  as  one 
of  the  compartments  of  the  old  gate,  that  is,  about 
two  feet  square. 

There  were  thirty- four  judges,  principally  artists, 
some  natives  of  Florence,  others  strangers.  Each 
was  obliged  to  give  his  vote  in  public,  and  to  state 

*  A  Baptistery,  as  its  name  imports,  is  an  edifice  used  for  the 
purposes  of  baptism,  and  always  dedicated  to  St.  John  the  Baptist. 
The  Baptistery  of  San  Giovanni,  at  Florence,  is  a  large  chapel,  of 
an  octangular  form,  surmounted  by  a  dome.  On  three  of  the  sides 
are  entrances.  It  is  an  appendage  of  the  cathedral,  though  sepa» 
rate  fron  it. 


<$8 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS, 


at  the  same  time  the  reasons  by  which  his  vote  was 
justified.  The  names  of  the  seven  competitors,  as 
given  by  Vasari,  were  Jacopo  della  Quercia,  of 
Siena ;  Mcolo  d'Arezzo,  his  pupil ;  Simon  da 
Colle,  celebrated  already  for  his  fine  workmanship 
in  bronze,  from  which  he  was  surnamed  Simon  dei 
Bronzi ;  Francesco  di  Valdambrina  ;  Filippo  Bru- 
nelleschi ;  Donato,  better  known  as  Donatello  ;  and 
Lorenzo  Ghiberti. 

Lorenzo  was  at  this  time  about  twenty-threo 
He  was  the  son  of  a  Florentine  named  Cione,  and 
of  a  family  which  had  attained  to  some  distinction 
in  Florence.  The  mother  of  Lorenzo,  left  a  widow 
at  an  early  age,  married  a  worthy  man  named  Bar- 
toluccio,  known  for  his  skill  as  a  goldsmith.  The 
goldsmiths  of  those  days  were  not  merely  artisans t 
but  artists  in  the  high  sense  of  the  word  ;  they 
generally  wrought  their  own  designs,  consisting  of 
figures  and  subjects  from  sacred  or  classical  story 
exquisitely  chased  in  relief,  or  engraved  or  enam- 
elled on  the  shrines  or  chalices  used  in  the  church 
service  ;  or  vases,  dishes,  sword-hilts,  and  other 
implements. 

The  arts  of  drawing  and  modelling,  then  essen- 
tial to  a  goldsmith,  as  well  as  practical  skill  in 
chiselling,  and  founding  and  casting  metals,  were 
taught  to  the  young  Lorenzo  by  his  father-in-law  ; 
and  his  progress  was  so  rapid,  that  at  the  age  of 
nineteen  or  twenty  he  had  already  secured  to  him- 
self the  patronage  of  the  Prince  Pandolfo  Mala- 


LORENZO  GHIBERTI. 


69 


testa,  Lord  of  Pesaro,  and  was  employed  in  the  dec- 
oration of  his  palace,  when  Bartoluccio  sent  him 
notice  of  the  terms  of  the  competition  for  the  exe- 
cution of  the  gates  of  San  Giovanni.  Lorenzo  im- 
mediately hastened  to  present  himself  as  one  of  the 
competitors,  and,  on  giving  evidence  of  his  acquired 
skill,  he  was  accepted  among  the  elected  seven. 
They  had  each  their  workshop  and  furnace  apart, 
&nd  it  is  related  that  most  of  them  jealously  kept 
their  designs  secret  from  the  rest.  But  Lorenzo, 
v  ho  had  all  the  modest  self-assurance  of  conscious 
genius,  did  not ;  on  the  contrary,  he  listened  grate- 
fully to  any  suggestion  or  criticism  which  was 
offered,  admitting  his  friends  and  distinguished 
rtrangers  to  his  atelier  while  his  work  was  going 
forward.  To  this  candor  he  added  a  persevering 
oourage  ;  for  when,  after  incredible  labor,  he  had 
Ljmpleted  his  models,  and  made  his  preparations 
jf/r  casting,  some  flaw  or  accident  in  the  process 
cWiged  him  to  begin  all  over  again,  he  supplied 
tMs  loss  of  time  by  the  most  unremitting  labor,  and 
a*  the  end  of  the  year  he  was  not  found  behind  his 
competitors.  When  the  seven  pieces  were  exhibited 
together  in  public,  it  was  adjudged  that  the  work 
of  Quercia  was  wanting  in  delicacy  and  finish  ; 
that  that  of  Valdambrina  was  confused  in  com- 
position ;  that  of  Simon  da  Colle  well  cast,  but  ill 
drawn  ;  that  of  Mcolo  d'Arezzo  heavy  and  ill-pro- 
portioned in  the  figures,  though  well  composed  :  in 
short,  but  three  among  the  number  united  the  vari- 


70 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


ous  merits  of  composition,  design,  and  delicacy  of 
workmanship,  and  were  at  once  preferred  before  the 
rest.  These  three  were  the  work  of  Brunelleschi, 
then  in  his  twenty-fifth  year ;  Donatello,  then 
about  eighteen  ;  and  Lorenzo  Ghiberti,  not  quite 
twenty-three.  The  suffrages  seemed  divided ;  but 
after  a  short  pause,  and  the  exchange  of  a  few 
whispered  words,  Brunelleschi  and  Donatello  with- 
drew, generously  agreeing  and  proclaiming  aloud 
that  Lorenzo  had  excelled  them  all,  that  to  him 
alone  belonged  the  prize ;  and  this  judgment,  as 
honorable  to  themselves  as  to  their  rival,  was  con- 
firmed  amid  the  acclamations  of  the  assembly. 

The  citizens  of  Florence  were  probably  not  less 
desirous  than  we  should  be  in  our  day  to  behold 
the  completion  of  a  work  begun  with  so  much  so- 
lemnity. But  the  great  artist  who  had  undertaken 
it  was  not  hurried  into  carelessness  by  their  im- 
patience or  his  own  ;  nor  did  he  contract  to  finish 
it,  like  a  blacksmith's  job,  in  a  given  time.  He  set 
about  it  with  all  due  gravity  and  consideration, 
yet,  as  he  describes  his  own  feelings,  in  his  own 
words,  con  grandissima  diligenza  e  grandissima 
amove,  "  with  infinite  diligence  and  infinite  love." 
He  began  his  designs  and  models  in  1402,  and  in 
twenty-two  years  from  that  time,  that  is,  in  1424. 
the  gate  was  finished  and  erected  in  its  place.  As 
in  the  first  gate  Andrea  Pisano  had  chosen  for  Ins 
theme  the  life  of  John  the  Baptist,  the  precursor 
of  the  Saviour,  and  the  patron  saint  of  the  Bap- 


LORENZO  GHIBERT1. 


71 


tistery,  Lorenzo  continued  the  history  of  the  Re- 
demption in  a  series  of  subjects,  from  the  Annunci- 
ation to  the  Descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  These  he 
represented  in  twenty  panels  or  compartments, 
ten  on  each  of  the  folding-doors ;  and  below  these 
eight  others,  containing  the  full-length  effigies  of 
the  four  evangelists  and  the  four  doctors  of  the 
Latin  church — grand,  majestic  figures;  and  all 
around  a  border  of  rich  ornaments —  fruit,  and  foli- 
age, and  heads  of  the  prophets  and  the  sibyls  inter- 
mingled, wondrous  for  the  beauty  of  the  design  and 
excellence  of  the  workmanship.  The  whole  was 
cast  in  bronze,  and  weighed  thirty-four  thousand 
pounds  of  metal. 

Such  was  the  glory  which  this  great  work  con- 
ferred not  only  on  Lorenzo  himself,  but  the  whole 
city  of  Florence,  that  he  was  regarded  as  a  public 
benefactor,  and  shortly  afterwards  the  same  com- 
pany confided  to  him  the  execution  of  the  third 
gate  of  the  same  edifice.  The  gate  of  Andrea  Pi- 
eano,  formerly  the  principal  entrance,  was  removed 
to  the  side,  and  Lorenzo  was  desired  to  construct  a 
central  gate  which  was  to  surpass  the  two  lateral 
ones  in  beauty  and  richness.  He  chose  this  time 
the  history  of  the  Old  Testament,  the  subjects  being 
selected  by  Leonardo  Bruni  d'Arezzo,  chancellor 
of  the  republic,  and  represented  by  Ghiberti  in 
ten  compartments,  each  two  and  a  half  feet  square, 
beginning  with  the  Creation,  and  ending  with  the 
Meeting  of  Solomon  and  the  Queen  of  Shoba  ;  and 


72 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


he  enclosed  the  whole  in  an  elaborate  border  or 
frame,  composed  of  intermingled  fruits  and  foliage, 
and  full-length  figures  of  the  heroes  and  prophets 
of  the  Old  Testament,  standing  in  niches,  to  the 
number  of  twenty-four,  each  about  fourteen  inches 
high,  wonderful  for  their  various  and  appropriate 
character,  for  correct,  animated  design,  and  deli- 
cacy of  workmanship.  This  gate,  of  the  same 
material  and  weight  as  the  former,  was  commenced 
in  1428  and  finished  about  1444.* 

It  is  especially  worthy  of  remark  that  the  only 
fault  of  these  otherwise  faultless  works  was  precisely 
that  character  of  style  which  rendered  them  so  in- 
fluential as  a  school  of  imitation  and  emulation  for 
painters.  The  subjects  are  in  sculpture,  in  relief 
and  cast  in  the  hardest,  severest,  darkest,  and  most 
inflexible  of  all  manageable  materials  —  in  bronze. 
Yet  they  are  treated  throughout  much  more  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  principles  of  painting  than  with 
those  of  sculpture.  We  have  here  groups  of  numer- 
ous figures,  near  or  receding  from  the  eye  in  just 
gradations  of  size  and  relief,  according  to  the  rules 
of  perspective  ;  different  actions  of  the  same  story 
represented  on  different  planes  ;  buildings  of  elabo- 
rate architecture  ;  landscape,  trees,  and  animals ; 
in  short,  a  dramatic  and  scenic  style  of  conception 

*  Authorities  differ  as  to  dates.  Those  cited  above  are  from  the 
notes  to  the  last  Florence  edit,  of  Vasari  (1838).  Sec  also  Ruraohr 
44  Italienische  Forschungen,"  vol.  ii. }  and  Cicognara.  "Storia  drlla 
8cultura  Moderna." 


LORENZO  GHIBERTI. 


73 


and  effect  wholly  opposed  to  the  severe  simplicity 
of  classical  sculpture.  Ghiberti's  genius,  notwith- 
standing the  inflexible  material  in  which  he  em- 
bodied his  conceptions,  was  in  its  natural  bent  pic- 
torial rather  than  sculptural ;  and  each  panel  cf 
his  beautiful  gates  is,  in  fact,  a  picture  in  relief, 
and  must  be  considered  and  judged  as  such.  Re- 
garding them  in  this  point  of  view,  and  not  subject- 
ing them  to  those  rules  of  criticism  which  apply  to 
sculpture,  we  shall  be  able  to  appreciate  the  aston- 
ishing fertility  of  invention  exhibited  in  the  various 
designs  ;  the  felicity  and  clearness  with  which  every 
story  is  told  ;  the  grace  and  naivete  of  some  of  the 
figures,  the  simple  grandeur  of  others  ;  the  luxuri- 
ant fancy  displayed  in  the  ornaments,  and  the  per- 
fection with  which  the  whole  is  executed  ;  —  and  to 
echo  the  energetic  praise  of  Michael  Angelo,  who 
pronounced  these  gates  "  worthy  to  be  the  Gates  of 
Paradise  ! ' ' 

Complete  sets  of  casts  from  these  celebrated  com- 
positions are  not  commonly  met  with,  but  they  are 
to  be  found  in  most  of  the  collections  and  acade- 
mies on  the  continent.  King  Louis  Philippe  has 
munificently  presented  a  set  to  our  government 
School  of  Design,  and  they  are  now  placed  at  the 
upper  end  of  the  third  room,  and  cemented  together 
with  the  surrounding  frieze,  so  as  to  give  a  perfect 
idea  of  the  arrangement  in  the  original  gates. 
Among  the  casts  and  models  in  the  School  of  Design 
at  Somerset  House  is  an  exquisite  little  basso-rilievo. 


n 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


representing  the  Triumph  of  Ariadne,  so  perfect,  so 
pure,  so  classical  in  taste,  that  it  might  easily  be 
mistaken  for  a  fragment  of  the  finest  Greek  sculp- 
ture.* These  are  the  only  specimens  of  Ghiberti's 
skill  to  which  the  writer  can  refer  as  accessible  in 
this  country. 

Engraved  outlines  of  the  subjects  on  the  three 
gates  were  published  at  Florence  in  1821,  by  G.  P. 
Lasinio.f  There  is  also  a  large  set  of  engravings 
from  the  ten  subjects  on  the  principal  gate,  executed 
in  a  good  bold  style  by  Thomas  Patch,  and  pub- 
lished by  him  at  Florence  in  1771.  { 

Lorenzo  Ghiberti  died  about  the  year  1455,  at 
the  age  of  seventy-seven.  His  former  competitors, 
Brunelleschi  and  Donatello,  remained  his  friends 
through  life,  and  have  left  behind  them  names  not 
less  celebrated,  the  one  as  an  architect,  the  other 
as  a  sculptor. 

This  is  the  history  of  those  famous  gates, 

"So  marvellously  wrought, 
That  they  might  serve  to  be  the  gates  of  Heaven  ! " 

*  This  cast  (which  formed  part  of  the  collection  in  the  time  of  Mr. 
Dyce,  the  late  director)  was  not  to  be  found  when  the  writer  of  this 
note  visited  the  School  of  Design  in  1845.  It  was  designed  to  orna- 
ment a  pedestal  for  an  antique  statue  of  Bacchus. 

+  "  Le  tre  Porte  del  Battistero  di  San  Giovanni  di  Firenze,  incise 
ed  illustrate." 

J  The  bronze  doors  of  the  church  De  la  Madeleine,  at  Paris,  were 
executed,  a  few  years  ago,  in  imitation  of  the  Gates  of  Ghiberti,  by 
M.  Uenri  de  Triqueti,  a  young  sculptor  of  singular  merit  and  geniua 
The  subjects  are  the  Ten  Commandments. 


MASACCIO. 


It  is  easily  conceivable  that,  during  the  forty 
years  which  Lorenzo  Ghiberti  devoted  to  his  great 
work,  and  others  on  which  he  was  employed  at  in- 
tervals, the  assistance  he  required  in  completing  his 
own  designs,  in  drawing,  modelling,  casting,  pol- 
ishing, should  have  formed  round  him  a  school  of 
young  artists  who  worked  and  studied  under  his 
eye.  The  kind  of  work  on  which  they  were  em- 
ployed gave  these  young  men  great  superiority  in 
the  knowledge  of  the  human  form,  and  in  effects  of 
relief,  light  and  shade,  &c.  The  application  of  the 
sciences  of  anatomy,  mathematics,  and  geometry,  to 
the  arts  of  design,  began  to  be  more  fully  under- 
stood. This  early  school  of  painters  was  fa\  "rably 
distinguished  above  the  later  schools  of  Italy  by  a 
generous  feeling  of  mutual  aid,  emulation,  and  ad- 
miration, among  the  youthful  students,  far  removed 
from  the  detestable  jealousies,  the  stabbings,  poison- 
ings, and  conspiracies,  which  we  read  of  in  the 
seventeenth  century.  Among  those  who  frequented 
the  atelier  of  Lorenzo  were  Paolo  Uccello,  the  first 
who  applied  geometry  to  the  study  of  perspective ; 
he  attached  himself  to  this  pursuit  with  such  un- 
wearied assiduity,  that  it  had  nearly  turned  his 

(75) 


Y6  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 

brain,  and  it  was  for  his  use  and  that  of  Brunei 
leschi  that  Manetti,  one  of  the  earliest  Greek 
scholars  and  mathematicians  in  modern  Europe, 
translated  the  "  Elements  of  Euclid  ;  "  Maso  Fini- 
guerra,  who  invented  the  art  of  engraving  on 
copper  ;  Pollajuolo,  the  first  painter  who  studied 
anatomy  by  dissection,  and  who  became  the  in- 
structor of  Michael  Angelo  ;  and  Masolino,  who  had 
been  educated  under  Stamina,  the  best  colorist  of 
that  time. 

There  was  also  a  young  boy,  scarcely  in  his  teens, 
who  learned  to  draw  and  model  by  studying  the 
works  of  Ghiberti,  and  who,  though  not  considered- 
as  his  disciple,  after  a  while  left  all  the  regular 
pupils  far  behind  him.  He  had  come  from  a  littk 
village  about  eighteen  miles  from  Florence,  called 
San  Giovanni,  and  of  his  parentage  and  early  yeara 
little  is  recorded,  and  that  little  doubtful.  Hig, 
name  was  properly  Tommaso  Guido,  or,  from  the 
place  of  his  birth,  Maso  di  San  Giovanni ;  but  from 
his  abstracted  air,  his  utter  indifference  to  the  usual 
sports  and  pursuits  of  boyhood,  his  negligent  dresa 
and  manners,  his  companions  called  him  Masaccio, 
which  might  be  translated  ugly  or  slovenly  Tom , 
and  by  this  reproachful  nickname  one  of  the  mosi 
illustrious  of  painters  is  now  known  throughout  the. 
world  and  to  all  succeeding  generations.  Masaccic 
was  one  of  those  rare  and  remarkable  men  whose 
vocation  is  determined  beyond  recall  almost  from 


MASACCIO. 


77 


infancy.  He  made  his  first  essays  as  a  child  in  his 
native  village  ;  and  in  the  house  in  which  he  was 
born  they  long  preserved  the  effigy  of  an  old  woman 
spinning,  which  he  had  painted  when  a  mere  boy 
on  the  wall  of  his  chamber,  astonishing  for  its  life- 
like truth.  Coming  to  Florence  when  about  thir- 
teen, he  studied  (according  to  Vasari)  under  Maso- 
lino,  who  was  then  employed  on  the  frescoes  of  the 
chapel  of  the  Brancacci  family,  in  the  church  of  the 
Carmelites.  Masolino  died  soon  after,  leaving  his 
work  unfinished ;  but  Masaccio  still  continued  his 
studies,  acquiring  the  principles  of  design  under 
Ghiberti  and  Donatello,  and  the  art  of  perspective 
under  Brunelleschi.  The  passionate  energy,  and 
forgetfulness  of  all  the  common  interests  and  pleas- 
ures of  life,  with  which  he  pursued  his  favorite  art, 
obtained  him,  at  an  early  age,  the  notice  of  Cosmo 
de'  Medici.  Then  intervened  the  civil  troubles  of 
the  republic.  Cosmo  was  banished  ;  and  Masaccio 
left  Florence  to  pursue  his  studies  at  Rome  wTith 
the  same  ardor,  and  with  all  the  advantages 
afforded  by  the  remains  of  ancient  art  collected 
there. 

While  at  Rome,  Masaccio  painted  in  the  church 
of  San  Clemen te  a  Crucifixion,  and  some  scenes 
from  the  life  of  St.  Catherine  of  Alexandria  ;  but, 
unhappily,  these  have  been  so  coarsely  painted 
over,  that  every  vestige  of  Masaccio 's  hand  has  dis- 
appeared,—  only  the  composition  remains;  and 


78 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


from  the  engravings  which  exist  some  idea  ma/ 
formed  of  their  beauty  and  simplicity.* 

Cosmo  de'  Medici  was  recalled  from  banishment 
in  1433  ;  and  soon  afterwards,  probably  through 
his  patronage  and  influence,  the  completion  of  the 
chapel  in  the  church  of  the  Carmine,  left  unfinished 
by  Masolino,  was  intrusted  to  Masaccio. 

This  chapel  is  on  the  right  hand  as  you  enter  the 
church.  It  is  in  the  form  of  a  parallelogram,  and 
three  sides  are  covered  with  the  frescoes,  divided 
into  twelve  compartments,  of  which  four  are  large 
and  oblong,  and  the  rest  narrow  and  upright.  All 
represent  scenes  from  the  life  of  St.  Peter,  except 
two,  which  are  immediately  on  each  side  as  you 
enter  —  the  Fall,  and  the  Expulsion  of  Adam  and 
Eve  from  Paradise.  Of  the  twelve  compartments, 
two  had  been  painted  by  Masolino  previous  to  1415  : 
the  Preaching  of  St.  Peter,  one  of  the  small  com- 
partments, and  the  St.  Peter  and  St.  John  healing 
the  Cripple,  one  of  the  largest.  In  this  fresco  are 
introduced  two  beautiful  youths,  or  pages,  in  the 
dress  of  the  patricians  of  Florence.  Nothing  can 
be  more  unaffectedly  elegant.  They  would  make 
us  regret  that  t*he  death  of  Masolino  left  another 
to  complete  his  undertaking,  had  not  that  other 
been  Masaccio. 

*  In  Ottley's  "  Early  Italian  School "  there  is  an  engraving  of  St 
Catherine  disputing  with  the  Heathen  Philosophers.  En  Rosini 
are  others.  Both  these  works  may  be  consulted  in  the  British 
Museum. 


MASACCIO. 


79 


Six  of  the  compartments,  two  large  and  four  small 
ones,  were  executed  by  Masaccio.  These  represent 
the  Tribute  Money  ;  St.  Peter  raising  a  Youth  to 
Life  ;  Peter  baptizing  the  Converts  ;  Peter  and  John 
healing  the  Sick  and  Lame  ;  the  same  Apostles  dis- 
tributing Alms  ;  and  the  Expulsion  of  Adam  uid 
Eve  from  Paradise. 

The  scene  represented  in  one  of  the  compartments 
is  one  of  the  incidents  in  the  apocryphal  History  of 
the  Apostles.  Simon  the  Magician  challenged  Peter 
and  Paul  to  restore  to  life  a  dead  youth,  who  is  said 
to  have  been  a  kinsman  or  nephew  of  the  Roman 
emperor.  The  sorcerer  fails,  of  course.  The  Apos- 
tles resuscitate  the  youth,  who  kneels  before  them. 
The  skull  and  bones  near  him  represent  the  pre- 
vious state  of  death.  A  crowd  of  spectators  stand 
around  beholding  the  miracle.  All  the  figures  are 
half  the  size  of  life,  and  quite  wonderful  for  the 
truth  of  expression,  the  variety  of  character,  the 
simple  dignity  of  the  forms  and  attitudes.  Masac- 
cio died  while  at  work  on  this  grand  picture,  and 
the  central  group  was  painted  some  years  later  by 
Eilippino  Lippi.  The  figure  of  the  youth  in  the 
centre  is  traditionally  said  to  be  that  of  the  painter 
Granacci,  then  a  boy.  Among  the  figures  standing 
round  are  several  contemporary  portraits  :  Piero 
Guicciardini,  father  of  the  great  historian  ;  Luigi 
Pulci,  the  poet,  author  of  the  "  Morgante  Mag- 
giore  ;  "  Pollajuolo,  the  painter,  Michael  Angelo's 
master,  and  others. 


Si) 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


The  portrait  of  Masaccio  usually  given  is  fr).n 
the  head  introduced  into  the  fresco  of  the  two 
Apostles  before  Nero  —  the  finest  of  all,  and  the 
chef-d'oeuvre  of  the  painter.  It  appears  that  the 
grand  figure  of  St.  Paul  standing  before  the  Prison 
of  St.  Peter,  which  Raphael  transferred  with  little 
alteration  into  his  Cartoon  of  St.  Paul  preaching 
at  Athens,  is  now  attributed  to  Filippino  Lippi.* 
The  four  remaining  compartments  were  added  many 
years  later  (about  1470),  by  the  same  Filippino 
Lippi,  who  seems  to  have  been  inspired  by  the 
greatness  of  his  predecessors. 

But  to  return  to  Masaccio.  In  considering  his 
works,  their  superiority  over  all  that  painting  had 
till  then  achieved  or  attempted  is  such,  and  so  sur- 
prising, that  there  seems  a  kind  of  break  in  the 
progression  of  the  art  —  as  if  Masaccio  had  over 
leaped  suddenly  the  limits  which  his  predecessor* 
had  found  impassable  ;  but  Ghiberti  and  his  Gatea 
explain  the  seeming  wonder.  The  chief  excellences 
of  Masaccio  were  those  which  he  had  attained,  or 
at  least  conceived,  in  his  early  studies  in  modelling. 
He  had  learned  from  Ghiberti  not  merely  the  knowl- 
edge of  form,  but  the  effects  of  light  and  shade  in 
giving  relief  and  roundness  to  his  figures,  which,  in 

*  See  Mr.  Eastlake'9  notes  to  Kugler's  "  Handbuch."  "  Some 
writers  on  art  seem  to  have  attributed  all  these  frescoes  indiscrimi- 
nately to  Masacoio  ;  others  have  considered  only  the  best  portions 
to  be  his  5  the  accuracy  of  German  investigation  has  perhaps  finally 
settled  the  distribution  as  above."    (P.  308  > 


MASACC10.  81 

comparison  to  those  of  his  predecessors,  seemed  to 
start  from  the  canvas.  He  was  the  first  who  suc- 
cessfully foreshortened  the  extremities.  In  most  of 
the  older  pictures  the  figures  appeared  to  stand  on 
the  points  of  their  toes  (as  in  the  Angel  of  Orcag- 
na)  ;  the  foreshortening  of  the  foot,  though  often 
attempted  with  more  or  less  success,  seemed  to  pre- 
sent insurmountable  difficulties.  Masaccio  added  a 
precision  in  the  drawing  of  the  naked  figure,  and  a 
softness  and  harmony  in  coloring  the  flesh,  never 
attained  before  his  time,  nor  since  surpassed  till  the 
days  of  Raphael  and  Titian.  He  excelled  also  in 
the  expression  and  imitation  of  natural  actions  and 
feelings.  In  the  fresco  of  St.  Peter  baptizing  the 
Converts  there  is  a  youth  who  has  just  thrown  off 
his  garment,  and  stands  in  the  attitude  of  one  shiv- 
ering with  sudden  cold.  "  This  figure,"  says  Lanzi, 
"  formed  an  epoch  in  art."  Add  the  animation 
and  variety  of  character  in  his  heads  —  so  that  it 
was  said  of  him  that  he  painted  souls  as  well  as 
bodies  —  and  his  free-flowing  draperies,  quite  dif- 
ferent from  the  longitudinal  folds  of  the  Giotto 
school,  yet  grand  and  simple,  and  we  can  form 
some  idea  of  the  combination  of  excellence  with 
novelty  of  style  which  astonished  his  contempora- 
ries. The  Chapel  of  the  Brancacci  was  for  half  a 
century  what  the  Camere  of  Raphael  in  the  Vatican 
have  since  become  —  a  school  for  young  artists. 
Vasari  enumerates  by  name  twenty  painters  who 
were  accustomed  to  study  there  ;  among  them,  Le- 
6 


82 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS 


onardo  da  Vinci,  Michael  Angelo,  Andrea  Jel  Sarto, 
Fra  Bartolonieo,  Pemgino,  Baccio  Bandinelii,  and 
the  divine  Raphael  himself.  Nothing  less  than  first- 
rate  genius  ever  yet  inspired  genius  ;  and  the  Chapel 
of  the  Brancacci  has  been  rendered  as  sacred  and 
memorable  by  its  association  with  such  spirits,  as  it 
is  precious  and  wondrous  as  a  monument  of  art : 

"  In  this  Chapel  wrought 
One  of  the  Few,  Nature's  interpreters  ; 
The  Few,  whom  Genius  gives  as  lights  to  shine  — 
Masaccio  ;  and  he  slumbers  underneath. 
Wouldst  thou  behold  his  monument  ?    Look  round, 
And  know  that  where  we  stand  stood  oft  and  long, 
Oft  till  the  day  was  gone,  Raphael  himself, 
He  and  his  haughty  rival  *  —  patiently, 
Humbly,  to  learn  of  those  who  came  before, 
To  steal  a  spark  of  their  authentic  fire, 
Theirs  who  first  broke  the  universal  gloom  - 
Sons  of  the  morning  !  " — Rogers. 

It  is  strange  that  so  little  should  be  known  of 
Masaccio's  history  —  that  he  should  have  passed 
through  life  so  little  noted,  so  little  thought  of : 
scarce  any  record  remaining  of  him  but  his  works, 
and  those  so  few,  and  yet  so  magnificent,  that  one 
of  his  heads  alone  would  have  been  sufficient  to  ini* 
mortalize  him,  and  to  justify  the  enthusiasm  of  his 
compeers  in  art.  We  are  told  that  he  died  sud- 
denly, so  suddenly  that  there  were  suspicions  of 
po'son  ;  and  that  he  was  buried  within  the  precincts 

*  Michael  Angelo. 


MASACCIO. 


S3 


of  the  chapel  he  had  adorned,  but  without  tomb  )r 
inscription.  There  is  not  a  more  vexed  question  m 
biography  than  the  date  of  Masaccio's  birth  and 
death.  According  to  Rosini,  the  most  accurate  of 
modern  writers  on  art,  he  was  born  in  1417,  and 
died  in  1443,  at  the  age  of  twenty-six.  Vasari  also 
says  expressly  that  he  died  before  he  was  twenty- 
seven  ;  in  that  case  he  could  not  have  been,  as  the 
same  writer  represents  him,  the  pupil  of  Masolino, 
who  died  in  1415.  According  to  other  authorities, 
he  was  born  in  1401,  and  died  at  the  age  of  forty- 
two.  It  seems  most  probable  that,  if  he  had  lived 
to  such  a  mature  age,  something  more  would  have 
been  known  of  his  life  and  habits,  and  he  would 
have  left  more  behind  him.  His  death  at  the  age 
of  twenty-six  renders  clear  and  credible  many  facts 
and  dates  otherwise  inexplicable  ;  and  as  to  his 
early  attainment  of  the  most  wonderful  skill  in  art, 
we  may  recollect  several  other  examples  of  preco- 
cious excellence ;  for  instance,  Ghiberti,  already 
mentioned,  and  Raphael,  who  was  called  to  Homo 
to  paint  the  Vatican  in  his  twenty-seventh  year. 
The  head  of  Masaccio,  painted  by  himself,  in  the 
Chapel  of  the  Brancacci,  at  most  two  years  before 
his  death,  represents  him  as  a  young  man  appar- 
ently  about  four  or  five  and  twenty. 


FILIPPO  LIPPI, 


Born  1400,  died  1469 : 

AND 

.  ANGELICO  DA  FIESOLE, 

Born  1387,  died  1455. 

Contemporary  with  Masaccio  lived  two  painters, 
Doth  gifted  with  surpassing  genius,  both  of  a  reli- 
gious order,  being  professed  monks ;  in  all  other 
respects  the  very  antipodes  of  each  other  ;  and  we 
find  the  very  opposite  impulses  given  by  these  re- 
markable men  prevailing  through  the  rest  of  J,aQ 
century  at  Florence  and  elsewhere.  From  this 
period  we  date  the  great  schism  in  modem  art, 
though  the  seeds  of  this  diversity  of  feeling  and 
purpose  were  sown  in  the  preceding  century.  Wo 
now  find,  on  the  one  side,  a  race  of  painters  who 
cultivated  with  astonishing  success  all  the  mental 
and  mechanical  aids  that  could  bo  brought  to  bear 
on  their  profession  ;  profoundly  versed  in  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  human  form,  and  intent  on  studying  and 
imitating  the  various  effects  of  nature  in  color  and 
in  light  and  shade,  without  any  other  aspiration 
than  the  representation  of  beauty  for  its  own  sake, 
and  the  pleasure  and  the  triumph  of  difficulties  over- 

(84) 


LIPPI  AND  DA  FIESOLE. 


85 


(wie  :  cn  the  other  hand,  we  find  a  race  of  painters 
to  whom  the  cultivation  of  art  was  a  sacred  vocation 
« — the  representation  of  beauty  a  means,  not  an  end ; 
by  whom  Nature  in  her  various  aspects  was  studied 
and  deeply  studied,  but  only  for  the  purpose  of  em- 
bodying whatever  we  can  conceive  or  reverence  as 
highest,  holiest,  purest  in  heaven  and  earth,  in  such 
forms  as  should  best  connect  them  with  our  intelli- 
gence and  with  our  sympathies. 

The  two  classes  of  painters  who  devoted  their 
genius  to  these  very  diverse  aims  have  long  been 
distinguished  in  German  and  Italian  criticism  as  the 
Naturalists  and  the  Idealists  or  Mystics,  and  these 
denominations  are  now  becoming  familiarized  in  our 
own  language.  During  the  fifteenth  century  we  find 
in  the  various  schools  of  art  scattered  through  Italy 
these  different  aims  more  or  less  apparent,  sometimes 
approximating,  sometimes  diverging  into  extremes, 
but  the  distinction  always  apparent ;  and  the  influ- 
ence exercised  by  those  who  pursued  their  art  with 
Buch  very  different  objects  —  with  such  very  differ- 
ent feelings  —  was  of  course  different  in  its  result. 
Painting,  however,  during  this  century  was  still 
almost  wholly  devoted  to  ecclesiastical  purposes ,  it 
deviated  into  the  classical  and  secular  in  only  two 
places,  Florence  and  Padua. 

In  the  convent  of  the  Carmelites,  where  Masaccio 
has  painted  his  famous  frescoes,  was  a  young  monk, 
who,  instead  of  employing  himself  in  the  holy  offices, 
passed  whole  days  and  hours  gazing  on  those  works, 


8(5  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 

*nd  trying  to  imitate  them.  He  was  one  whom  pov* 
erty  had  driven,  as  a  child,  to  take  refuge  there,  and 
who  had  afterwards  taken  the  habit  from  necessity 
rather  than  from  inclination.  His  name  was  Filippo 
Lippi  (which  may  be  translated  Philip  the  son  of 
Philip) ,  but  he  is  known  in  the  history  of  art  as 
Fra  Filippo  (Friar  Philip) .  In  him,  as  in  Masaccio, 
the  bent  of  the  genius  was  early  decided  ;  nature  had 
made  him  a  painter.  He  studied  from  morning  to 
night  the  models  he  had  before  him  ;  but,  restless, 
ardent,  and  abandoned  to  the  pursuit  of  pleasure, 
he  at  length  broke  from  the  convent  and  escaped  to 
Ancona.  The  rest  of  his  life  is  a  romance.  On  an 
excursion  to  sea  he  was  taken  by  the  African  pirates, 
sold  as  a  slave  in  Barbary,  and  remained  in  captivity 
eighteen  months.  With  a  piece  of  charcoal  he  drew 
his  master's  picture  on  a  wall,  and  so  excited  his  ad- 
miration that  he  gave  him  his  freedom,  and  dismissed 
him  with  presents.  Fra  Filippo  then  returned  to 
Italy,  and  at  Naples  and  at  Rome  gained  so  much 
celebrity  by  the  beauty  of  his  performances,  that  his 
crime  as  a  runaway  monk  was  overlooked,  and,  un- 
der the  patronage  of  the  Medici  family,  he  ventured 
to  return  to  Florence.  There  he  painted  a  great 
number  of  admirable  pictures,  and  was  called  upon 
to  decorate  many  convents  and  churches  in  the  neigh- 
borhood. His  life  during  all  this  time  appears  to 
have  been  most  scandalous,  even  without  considera- 
tion of  his  religious  habit ;  and  the  sums  of  money 
he  obtained  by  the  practice  of  his  art  were  squan- 


LIPPI  AND  DA  FIESOLE. 


87 


dered  in  profligate  pleasures.  Being  called  upon  to 
paint  a  Madonna  for  the  convent  of  St.  Margaret  at 
Prato,  he  persuaded  the  sisterhood  to  allow  a  beau- 
tiful novice,  whose  name  was  Lucretia  Buti,  to  sit  to 
him  for  a  model.  In  the  end  he  seduced  this  girl, 
and  carried  her  off  from  the  convent,  to  the  great 
Bcandal  of  the  community,  and  the  inexpressible  grief 
and  horror  of  her  father  and  family.  Filippo  was 
then  an  old  man,  nearly  sixty  ;  but  for  his  great 
fame  and  the  powerful  protection  of  the  Medici,  he 
would  have  paid  dearly  for  this  offence  against  mor- 
als and  religion.  His  friends  Cosmo  and  Lorenzo 
de'  Medici  obtained  from  the  pope  a  dispensation 
from  his  vows,  to  enable  him  to  marry  Lucretia  ; 
but  he  does  not  seem  to  have  been  in  any  haste  to 
avail  himself  of  it  ;  the  family  of  the  girl,  unable 
to  obtain  any  public  reparation  for  their  dishonor, 
contrived  to  avenge  it  secretly,  and  Fra  Filippo  died 
poisoned,  at  the  age  of  sixty-nine. 

This  libertine  monk  was  undoubtedly  a  man  of 
extraordinary  genius,  but  his  talent  was  degraded 
by  his  immorality.  He  adopted  and  carried  on  all 
the  improvements  of  Masaccio,  and  was  the  first 
who  invented  that  particular  style  of  grandeur  and 
breadth  in  the  drawing  of  his  figures,  the  grouping, 
and  the  contrast  of  light  and  shade,  afterwards  car- 
ried to  such  perfection  by  Andrea  del  Sarto.  He 
was  one  of  the  earliest  painters  who  introduced 
landscape  backgrounds,  painted  with  some  feeling 
for  the  truth  of  nature ;  but  the  expression  he  gave 


88 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


to  his  personages,  though  always  energetic,  was 
often  inappropriate,  and  never  calm  or  elevated. 
In  the  representation  of  sacred  incidents  he  was 
sometimes  fantastic  and  sometimes  vulgar  ;  and  he 
was  the  first  who  desecrated  such  subjects  by  intro- 
ducing the  portraits  of  women  who  happened  to  be 
the  objects  of  his  preference  at  the  moment.  There 
are  many  pictures  by  Fra  Filippo  in  the  churches 
at  Florence  ;  two  in  the  gallery  of  the  Academy 
there  ;  five  in  the  Berlin  Museum  ;  in  the  Louvre 
there  is  one  undoubtedly  genuine,  and  of  great 
beauty,  marked  by  all  his  characteristics.  It  rep- 
resents the  Madonna  standing,  and  holding  the 
Infant  Saviour  in  her  arms  ;  on  each  side  are  angels 
and  a  kneeling  monk.  The  attitude  of  the  Virgin 
is  grand  ;  the  head  commonplace,  or  worse ;  the 
countenance  of  the  Infant  Christ  heavy  ;  the  angels, 
with  crisped  hair,  have  the  faces  of  street  urchins  ; 
but  the  adoring  monks  are  wonderful  for  the  natural 
dignity  of  their  figures  and  the  fine  expression  in 
their  upturned  faces,  and  the  whole  picture  is  most 
admirably  executed.  It  was  painted  for  the  church 
of  the  Santo  Spirito,  at  Florence,  and  is  a  celebrated 
production.  The  writer  does  not  know  of  any  pic- 
ture by  Fra  Filippo  now  in  England.  He  left  a  son, 
Flippo  Lippi,  called  Filippino  (to  distinguish  him 
from  his  father) ,  who  became  in  after  years  an  ex- 
cellent painter,  and  whose  frescoes  in  the  Chapel 
of  the  Brancacci,  which  emulated  those  of  Masaccio 
have  been  already  mentioned. 


LIPPI  AND  DA  FIESOLE. 


89 


Contemporary  with  Fra  Filippo,  or  rather  earlier 
in  point  of  date,  lived  the  other  painter-monk,  pre* 
senting  in  his  life  and  character  the  strongest  pos- 
sible contrast  to  the  former.  He  was,  as  Vasari 
tells  us,  one  who  might  have  lived  a  very  agreeable 
life  in  the  world,  had  he  not,  impelled  by  a  sincere 
and  fervent  spirit  of  devotion,  retired  from  it  at 
the  age  of  twenty  to  bury  himself  within  the  walls 
Df  a  cloister ;  a  man  with  whom  the  practice  of  a 
Deautiful  art  was  thenceforth  a  hymn  of  praise,  and 
Rvery  creation  of  his  pencil  an  act  of  piety  and 
charity,  and  who,  in  seeking  only  the  glory  of  God, 
earned  an  immortal  glory  among  men.  This  was 
Fra  Giovanni  Angelico  da  Fiesole,  whose  name, 
before  he  entered  the  convent,  was  Guido  Petri  de 
Mugello.*  He  has  since  obtained,  from  the  holi- 
Qess  of  his  life,  the  title  of  II  Beato,  "  the  Blessed," 
by  which  he  is  often  mentioned  in  Italian  histories 
of  art.  He  was  born  in  1387,  at  Fiesole,  a  beaut' 
ful  town  situated  on  a  hill  overlooking  Florence 
and  in  1407,  being  then  twenty,  and  already  skilled 
in  the  art  of  painting,  particularly  miniature  illu- 
minations of  Missals  and  choral-books,  he  entered 
the  Dominican  convent  of  St.  Mark,  at  Florence, 
and  took  the  habit  of  the  order.  It  is  not  known 
exactly  under  whom  he  studied  ;  but  he  is  said  to 
have  been  taught  by  Stamina,  the  best  colorist  of 
that  time.  The  rest  of  his  long  life  of  seventy  yeara 
presents  only  one  unbroken  tranquil  stream  of  placid 

*  Notes  to  the  last  Florence  edition  of  Vasari,  p.  303 


90 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


contentment  and  pious  labors.  Except  on  one  oc 
casion,  when  called  to  Rome  by  Pope  Nicholas  V. 
to  paint  in  the  Vatican,  he  never  left  his  convent, 
and  then  only  yielded  to  the  express  command  of 
the  pontiff.  While  he  was  at  Rome  the  Arch 
bishopric  of  Florence  became  vacant,  and  the  pope/ 
struck  by  the  virtue  and  learning  of  Angelico,  and 
the  simplicity  and  sanctity  of  his  life,  offered  to 
install  him  in  that  dignity,  one  of  the  greatest  in 
the  power  of  the  papal  see  to  bestow.  Angelicc 
refused  it  from  excess  of  modesty,  pointing  out 
at  the  same  time  to  the  notice  of  the  pope  a  brother 
of  his  convent  as  much  more  worthy  of  the  honor, 
and  by  his  active  talents  more  fitted  for  the  office. 
The  pope  listened  to  his  recommendation  ;  Frate 
Antonio  was  raised  to  the  see,  and  became  cele- 
brated as  the  best  Archbishop  of  Florence  that  had 
been  known  for  two  centuries.  Meantime  Angelico 
pursued  his  vocation  in  the  still  precincts  of  his 
quiet  monastery,  and,  being  as  assiduous  as  he  was 
devout,  he  painted  a  great  number  of  pictures, 
some  in  distemper  and  on  a  small  scale,  to  which  he 
gave  all  the  delicacy  and  finish  of  miniature  ;  and 
in  the  churches  of  Florence  many  large  frescoes 
with  numerous  figures  nearly  life-size,  as  full  of 
grandeur  as  of  beauty.  He  painted  only  sacred 
subjects,  and  never  for  money.  Those  who  wished 
for  any  work  of  his  hand  were  obliged  to  apply  to 
the  prior  of  the  convent,  from  whom  Angelico  re- 
ceived with  humility  the  order  or  the  permission  to 


LirPI  AND  DA  FIESOLE. 


91 


execute  it,  and  thus  the  brotherhood  was  at  once 
enriched  by  his  talent  and  edified  by  his  virtue.  To 
Angelico  the  art  of  painting  a  picture  devoted  to 
religious  purposes  was  an  act  of  religion,  for  which 
he  prepared  himself  by  fasting  and  prayer,  implor- 
ing on  bended  knees  the  benediction  of  heaven  on 
his  work.  He  then,  under  the  impression  that  he 
had  obtained  the  blessing  he  sought,  and  glowing 
with  what  might  truly  be  called  inspiration,  took 
up  his  pencil,  and,  mingling  with  his  earnest  and 
pious  humility  a  singular  species  of  self-uplifted 
enthusiasm,  he  could  never  be  persuaded  to  alter 
his  first  draught  or  composition,  believing  th*at 
which  he  had  done  was  according  to  the  will  of 
God,  and  could  not  be  changed  for  the  better  by 
any  afterthought  of  his  own  or  suggestion  from 
others.  All  the  works  left  by  Angelico  are  in  har- 
mony with  this  gentle,  devout,  enthusiastic  spirit. 
They  are  not  remarkable  for  the  usual  merits  of  the 
Florentine  school.  They  are  not  addressed  to  the 
taste  of  connoisseurs,  but  to  the  faith  of  worship- 
pers. Correct  drawing  of  the  human  figure  could 
not  be  expected  from  one  who  regarded  the  exhibi- 
tion of  the  undraped  form  as  a  sin.  In  the  learned 
distribution  of  light  and  shade,  in  the  careful  imi- 
tation of  nature  in  the  details,  and  in  variety  of 
expression,  many  of  his  contemporaries  excelled 
him  ;  but  none  approached  him  in  that  poetical  and 
religious  fervor  which  he  threw  into  his  heads  of 
saints  and  Madonnas.    Power  is  not  the  character 


92 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


istic  of  Angelico.  Wherever  he  has  had  to  express 
energy  of  action,  or  bad  or  angry  passions,  he  has 
generally  failed.  In  his  pictures  of  the  Crucifixion 
and  the  Stoning  of  St.  Stephen,  the  executioners 
and  the  rabble  are  feeble  and  often  ill-drawn,  and 
his  fallen  angels  and  devils  are  anything  but  devil- 
ish ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  pathos  of  suf- 
fering, of  pity,  of  divine  resignation  —  the  expres- 
sion of  ecstatic  faith  and  hope,  or  serene  contempla- 
tion —  have  never  been  placed  before  us  as  in  his 
pictures.  In  the  heads  of  his  young  angels,  in  the 
purity  and  beatitude  of  his  female  saints,  he  has 
never  been  excelled  —  not  even  by  Raphael. 

The  principal  works  of  Angelico  are  the  frescoes 
m  the  church  of  his  own  convent  of  St.  Mark,  at 
Florence,  in  the  church  of  Santa  Maria  Novella, 
and  at  Rome  in  the  chapel  of  Nicholas  V.,  in  the 
Vatican.  His  small  easel  pictures  are  numerous, 
and  to  be  found  in  most  of  the  foreign  collections, 
though  unhappily  the  writer  can  point  out  none 
that  are  accessible  in  England.  There  is  one  in  the 
Louvre,  of  surpassing  beauty.  The  subject  is  the 
Coronation  of  the  Virgin  Mary  by  her  Son  the  Re- 
deemer, in  the  presence  of  saints  and  angels,  [t 
represents  a  throne  under  a  rich  Gothic  canopy,  to 
which  there  is  an  ascent  by^nine  steps.  On  the 
highest  kneels  the  Virgin,  veiled,  her  hands  crossed 
on  her  bosom.  She  is  clothed  in  a  red  tunic,  a  blue 
robe  over  it,  and  a  royal  mantle  with  a  rich  border 
flowing  down  behind.    The  features  are  most  deli- 


L1PPI  AND  DA  FIESOLE. 


93 


cately  lovely,  and  the  expression  of  the  face  full  of 
humility  and  adoration.  Christ,  seated  on  the 
throne,  bends  forward,  and  is- in  the  act  of  placing 
the  crown  on  her  head.  On  each  side  are  twelve 
angels,  who  are  playing  a  heavenly  concert  with 
guitars,  tambourines,  trumpets,  viols,  and  other 
musical  instruments.  Lower  than  these,  on  each 
side,  are  forty  holy  personages  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testament ;  and  at  the  foot  of  the  throne  kneel  several 
saints,  male  and  female,  among  them  St.  Catherine 
with  her  wheel,  St.  Agnes  with  her  lamb,  and  St. 
Cecilia  crowned  with  flowers.  Beneath  the  prin- 
cipal picture  there  is  a  row  of  seven  small  ones, 
forming  a  border,  and  representing  various  inci- 
dents in  the  life  of  St.  Dominic.  The  whole  meas- 
ures about  seven  and  a  half  feet  high  by  six  feet  in 
width.  It  is  painted  in  distemper ;  the  glories 
round  the  heads  of  the  sacred  personages  are  in 
gold,  the  colors  are  the  most  delicate  and  vivid  im« 
aginable,  and  the  ample  draperies  have  the  long 
folds  which  recall  the  school  of  Giotto  ;  the  gayety 
and  harmony  of  the  tints,  the  expression  of  the 
various  heads,  the  divine  rapture  of  the  angels,  with 
their  air  of  immortal  youth,  and  the  devout  reverence 
of  the  other  personages,  the  unspeakable  serenity 
and  beauty  of  the  whole  composition,  render  this 
picture  worthy  of  the  celebrity  it  has  enjoyed  for 
more  than  four  centuries.  It  was  painted  by  Frate 
Angelico  for  the  church  of  St.  Dominic,  at  Fiesole, 
where  it  remained  till  the  beginning  of  the  present 


94 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


century.  How  obtained  it  does  not  appeal  ,  but  it 
was  purchased  by  the  French  government  in  1812, 
and  exhibited  for  the  first  time  in  the  long  gallery 
of  the  Louvre  in  1815.  It  is  now  placed  in  the 
gallery  of  drawings  at  the  upper  end.  A  very  good 
set  of  outlines  were  engraved  and  published  at 
Paris,  with  explanatory  notes  by  A.  W.  Schlegel ; 
and  to  those  who  have  no  opportunity  of  seeing  the 
original  these  would  convey  some  faint  idea  of  the 
composition,  and  of  the  exquisite  and  benign  beauty 
of  the  angelic  heads. 

It  is  a  curious  circumstance  that  the  key  of  the 
chapel  of  Pope  Nicholas  V.,  in  the  Vatican,  in 
which  Angelico' painted  some  of  his  most  beautiful 
frescoes,  was  for  two  centuries  lost,  and  few  persons 
were  aware  of  their  existence,  fewer  still  set  any 
value  on  them.  In  1769  those  who  wished  to  see 
them  were  obliged  to  enter  by  a  window. 

Fra  Giovanni  Angelico  da  Fiesole  died  at  Rome, 
in  1455,  and  is  buried  there  in  the  church  of  Santa 
Maria  sopra  Minerva. 


BENOZZO  GOZZOLI. 

Born  1406,  died  1478. 

Fra  Giovanni  Angelico  possessed,  among  his 
other  amiable  qualities,  one  true  characteristic  of 
a  generous  mind,  the  willingness  to  impart  what- 
ever he  knew  to  others  ;  and,  notwithstanding  the 
retirement  in  which  he  lived,  he  had  several  pupils. 
But  that  which  formed  the  principal  charm  and 
merit  of  his  productions,  the  impress  of  individual 
mind,  the  profound  sentiment  of  piety,  was  incom- 
municable except  to  a  kindred  spirit.  Hence  it  is 
that  this  influence,  like  the  prophetic  mantle,  fell 
on  those  who  had  the  power  to  catch  it  and  retain 
it,  and  is  more  apparent  in  its  general  results,  as 
seen  in  the  schools  of  Umbria  and  Venice,  than  in 
any  particular  painter  or  any  particular  work. 
Oosimo  Roselli,  a  very  distinguished  artist  of  that 
time,  is  supposed  to  have  studied  under  Angelico, 
and  certainly  began  by  imitating  his  manner. 
Afterwards  he  painted  like  Masaccio.  His  best 
work,  a  large  fresco  in  the  chapel  of  St.  Ambrogio, 
at  Florence,  is  engraved  in  Lasinio's  collection 
from  the  old  Florentine  masters.  It  was  executed 
about  1456.  A  much  more  celebrated  name  is  that 
of  Benozzo  Gozzoli. 

(95) 


96 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


We  know  very  little  of  the  life  of  this  extraordi 
nary  man  ;  but  that  little  shows  him  to  have  beer 
worthy  of  the  particular  love  of  his  master,  whosa 
favorite  pupil  and  companion  he  was,  and,  during 
the  last  years  of  Angelico's  life,  his  assistant.  Ac- 
cording to  Vasari,  Benozzo  was  an  excellent  man, 
and  a  good  and  pious  Christian,  but  he  had  no  vo- 
cation for  the  cloister.  No  painter  of  the  time  had 
such  a  lively  sense  of  all  the  beauty  and  variety  of 
the  external  and  material  world.  For  him  beauty 
existed  wherever  he  looked  —  wherever  he  moved 
He  took  such  delight  in  the  practice  of  his  art,  that 
he  had  little  time  for  other  pursuits.  He  succeeded 
to  the  popularity  of  Angelico  as  a  painter  of  sacred 
subjects,  into  which  he  introduced  much  more  orna- 
ment, decorating  them  with  landscapes,  buildings, 
animals,  &c.  It  appears  that  he  did  not  design  the 
figure  more  correctly  than  Angelico,  nor  equal  him 
in  the  profound  feeling  and  celestial  air  of  his 
heads ;  but  he  has  shown  more  invention  and 
variety  in  his  compositions,  and  mingled  with  his 
grace  a  certain  gayety  of  conception,  a  degree  of 
movement  and  dramatic  feeling,  which  are  not  seen 
in  the  works  of  Angelico. 

Benozzo,  before  the  death  of  his  master,  painted 
some  frescoes  in  the  cathedral  at  Orvieto,  and  in 
the  churches  of  the  little  town  of  Montefalco,  near 
Foligno,  and  also  at  Rome,  in  the  church  of  the 
Ara-celi.  The  former  remain,  but  those  in  the 
Ara-celi  have  long  since  been  destroyed.   All  these 


BENOZZO  GOZZOLI. 


97 


were  more  or  less  in  the  style  of  his  master.  After 
the  death  of  Angelico,  Benozzo  was  employed  to 
paint  the  church  at  San  Geminiano,  a  little  city  on 
the  road  from  Florence  to  Sienna  ;  and  here  some 
of  his  own  peculiar  characteristics  were  first  dis- 
played ;  here  he  painted  the  Death  of  St.  Sebas- 
tian, and  the  history  of  St.  Augustin  ;  and  for 
Pietro  de'  Medici  he  painted  a  chapel  in  the  palace 
of  the  Medici  (now  the  Palazzo  Bicardi,  at  Flor- 
ence), the  subject  being  the  Adoration  of  the  Magi, 
which  still  exists  in  the  Ricardi  Palace,  bat  so 
built  up  that  it  can  only  be  viewed  by  torch-light. 
In  all  the  paintings  he  executed  at  this  time 
(1460)  and  afterwards,  Benozzo  introduced  many 
figures,  generally  the  portraits  of  distinguished 
inhabitants  of  the  place,  or  those  of  his  friends, 
grouped  as  spectators  round  the  principal  incident 
or  personage  represented,  having  nothing  to  do 
with  the  action,  but  so  beautifully  managed  that, 
far  from  appearing  intrusive,  they  rather  add  to 
the  solemnity  and  the  poetry  of  the  scene,  as  if  he 
would  fain  represent  these  sacred  events  as  belong- 
ing to  all  times,  and  still,  as  it  were,  passing  before 
our  eyes.  This  observation  must  be  borne  in  mind 
as  generally  applicable  to  all  sacred  pictures,  in 
which  the  apparent  anachronisms  are  not  really 
such,  if  properly  considered.  Benozzo  carried  this 
and  other  characteristics  of  his  own  original  style 
still  further  in  his  greatest  work,  the  decoration  of 
the  Campo  Santo 
7 


98 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


When  the  troubles  of  war,  famine,  plague,  and 
intestine  divisions,  which  had  distracted  Pisa  dur- 
ing the  first  half  of  the  fifteenth  century,  had  sub- 
sided, the  citizens  of  that  rich  and  active  republic 
resumed  those  works  of  peace  which  had  been  inter- 
rupted for  nearly  a  century,  and  resolved  to  com- 
plete the  painting  of  their  far-famed  cemetery,  the 
Campo  Santo.  One  whole  side,  the  north  wall,  was 
yet  untouched.  They  intrusted  the  work  to  Benozzo 
Gozzoli,  who,  though  now  old  (upwards  of  sixty, 
and  worn  with  toil  and  trouble) ,  did  not  hesitate 
to  undertake  a  task  which,  to  use  Vasari's  strong 
expression,  was  nothing  less  than  4 4  terribilissima" 
and  enough  44  to  frighten  a  whole  legion  of  paint- 
ers." In  twenty-four  compartments  he  represented 
the  whole  history  of  the  Old  Testament,  from  Noah 
down  to  King  Solomon.  The  endless  fertility  of 
fancy  and  invention  displayed  in  these  composi- 
tions ;  the  pastoral  beauty  of  some  of  the  scenes, 
the  scriptural  sublimity  of  others  ;  the  hundreds  of 
figures  introduced,  many  of  them  portraits  of  his 
own  time ;  the  dignity  and  beauty  of  the  heads ; 
the  exquisite  grace  of  some  of  the  figures,  almost 
equal  to  Raphael ;  the  ample  draperies,  the  gay, 
rich  colors,  the  profusion  of  accessories,  as  build 
ings,  landscapes,  flowers,  animals,  and  the  care  and 
exactness  with  which  he  has  rendered  the  costume 
of  that  time  —  render  this  work  of  Benozzo  one  of 
the  most  extraordinary  monuments  of  the  fifteenth 
century.    But  it  would  have  been  more  than  ex- 


BENOZZO  GOZZOLI. 


99 


traordinary,  It  would  have  been  miraculous,  had  it 
been  executed  in  the  space  of  two  years,  as  Lan^i 
relates  —  trusting  to  a  popular  tradition,  whicl  a 
moment's  reflection  would  have  shown  to  be  incred- 
ible. It  appears,  from  authentic  records  still  exist- 
ing in  the  city  of  Pisa,  that  Benozzo  was  engaged 
on  *his  great  work  not  less  than  sixteen  years,  from 

ym  to  1484. 

Those  who  would  form  an  idea  of  its  immensity, 
considered  as  the  work  of  one  hand,  may  consult 
the  large  set  of  engravings  from  the  Campo  Santo, 
published  by  Lasinio  in  1821. 

The  original  frescoes  are  still  in  wonderful  pres- 
ervation. Three  out  of  the  twenty-four  are  almost 
entirely  destroyed  ;  the  others  have  peeled  off  in 
some  parts,  but  in  general  the  expression  of  the 
features  and  the  lucid  harmony  of  the  colors  have 
remained.  Each  compartment  contains  many  inci- 
dents and  events  artlessly  grouped  together.  Thus 
we  have  Hagar's  presumption,  her  castigation  by 
Sarah,  the  visit  of  the  three  angels,  &c,  in  one 
picture.  Among  the  most  beautiful  subjects  may 
be  mentioned  the  Vineyard  of  Noah,  the  first  which 
Benozzo  painted,  as  a  trial  of  his  skill.  On  the 
left  of  this  composition  are  two  female  figures  — 
one  who  comes  tripping  along  with  a  basket  of 
grapes  on  her  head,  the  other  holding  up  her  bas- 
ket for  more  —  which  are  perfect  models  of  pasto- 
ral grace  and  simplicity.  In  the  Building  of  the 
Tower  of  Babel,  a  crowd  of  spectators  have  assem- 


100  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


bled  to  witness  the  work  ;  among  them  are  intro* 
duced  the  figures  of  Cosmo  de'  Medici,  the  Father 
of  his  country,  and  his  two  grandsons,  Lorenzo 
and  Giuliano,  with  Poliziano  and  other  person- 
ages, all  in  the  costume  of  that  time.  In  the 
Marriage  Feast  of  Jacob  and  Rachel  he  has  in- 
troduced two  graceful  dancing  figures.  In  tho 
Recognition  of  Joseph  he  has  painted  a  profusion 
of  rich  architectural  decoration  —  palaces,  colon- 
nades, balconies,  and  porticoes,  in  the  style  of  the 
time  ;  and  in  the  distance  we  have,  instead  of 
the  Egyptian  Pyramids,  a  view  of  the  Cathedral 
of  Pisa  ! 

Soon  after  the  completion  of  the  last  compart- 
ment, the  Queen  of  Sheba's  visit  to  Solomon  (of 
which,  unhappily,  scarce  a  fragment  remains),  Be^ 
nozzo  Gozzoli  died,  at  Pisa;  in  his  seventy-eighth 
year.  The  grateful  and  admiring  Pisans,  amorg 
whom  he  had  resided  for  sixteen  years  in  great 
honor  and  esteem,  had  presented  him,  in  the  couise 
of  his  work,  with  a  vault  or  sepulchre  just  beneath 
the  compartment  which  contains  the  history  of 
Joseph  ;  and  in  this  spot  he  lies  buried,  with  an 
inscription  purporting  that  his  best  monument 
consists  in  the  works  around.  Benozzo  left  an 
only  daughter,  who  after  his  death  inherited  tne 
modest  little  dwelling  which  he  had  purchased  for 
himself  on  the  Carraia  di  San  Francesco. 

Benozzo's  principal  works,  being  in  fresco,  re- 
main attached  to  the  walls  on  which  they  were 


BENOZZO  GOZZOLI. 


101 


painted.  Those  only  of  the  Campo  Santo  are  en- 
graved. A  picture  in  distemper  of  St.  Thomas 
Aquinas  is  in  the  Louvre  (No.  1033),  and  is  the 
same  mentioned  by  Vasari  as  having  been  painted 
for  the  Cathedral  of  Pisa. 


ANDREA  CASTAGNO, 


Born  1403,  died  1477 } 

AND 

LUCA  SIGNORELLI, 

Born  1440,  died  1521. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century,  we 
find  Lorenzo  dV  Medici,  the  Magnificent ,  master 
of  the  Florentine  republic,  as  it  was  still  denomi- 
nated, though  now  under  the  almost  absolute  power 
of  one  man.  The  mystic  and  spiritual  school  of  An- 
gelico  and  his  followers  no  longer  found  admirers  in 
the  city  of  Florence,  where  the  study  of  classical 
literature,  and  the  enthusiastic  admiration  of  the 
Medici  for  antique  art,  led  to  the  cultivation  and 
development  of  a  style  wholly  different ;  the  paint 
ers,  instead  of  confining  themselves  to  scriptural 
events  and  characters,  began  at  this  time  to  take 
their  subjects  from  mythology  and  classical  history. 
Meantime,  the  progress  made  in  the  knowledge  of 
form,  the  use  of  colors,  and  all  the  technical  appli- 
ances of  the  art,  prepared  the  way  for  the  appear- 
ance of  those  great  masters  who  in  the  succeeding 
century  carried  painting  in  all  its  departments  to 
the  highest  perfection,  and  have  never  yet  been 
surpassed. 

(102) 


CASTAGNO  AND  SIGNORELLI. 


103 


About  1460,  a  certain  Neapolitan  painter,  named 
Antonello  da  Messina,  having  travelled  into  the 
Netherlands,  learned  there  from  Johan  v.  Eyk  and 
his  scholars  the  art  of  managing  oil-colors.  Being 
at  Venice  on  his  return,  he  communicated  the  secret 
to  a  Venetian  painter,  Domenico  Veneziano,  with 
whom  he  had  formed  a  friendship,  and  who,  having 
acquired  considerable  reputation,  was  called  to  Flor- 
ence to  assist  Andrea  di  Castagno  in  painting  a 
chapel  in  Santa  Maria  Novella.  Andrea,  who  had 
been  a  scholar  of  Masaccio,  was  one  of  the  most 
famous  painters  of  the  time,  and  a  favorite  of  the 
Medici  family.  On  the  occasion  of  the  conspiracy 
of  the  Pazzi,  when  the  Archbishop  of  Pisa  and  his 
confederates  were  hung  by  the  magistrates  from  the 
windows  of  the  palace,  Andrea  was  called  upon  to 
represent,  on  the  walls  of  the  Podesta,  this  terrible 
execution  — "  fit  subject  for  fit  hand;"  and  hi 
succeeded  so  well,  that  he  obtained  the  surname  of 
Andrea  degV  Impiccati,  which  may  be  translated 
Andrea  the  hangman.  He  afterwards  earned  a  yet 
more  infamous  designation  —  Andrea  the  assassin. 
Envious  of  the  reputation  which  Domenico  had  ac- 
quired by  the  beauty  and  brilliance  of  his  colors,  he 
first,  by  a  show  of  the  most  devoted  friendship,  ob- 
tained his  secret,  and  then  seized  the  opportunity 
when  he  accompanied  Domenico  one  night  to  sere- 
nade his  mistress,  and  stabbed  him  to  the  heart. 
He  contrived  to  escape  suspicion,  and  allowed  one 
or  two  innocent  persons  to  suffer  for  his  crime ;  but 


104  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


on  his  death-bed,  ten  years  afterwards,  he  confessed 
his  guilt,  and  has  been  consigned  to  merited  infamy. 
Very  few  works  of  this  painter  remain.  Four  are  in 
the  Berlin  Museum ;  they  are  much  praised  by  Lanzi, 
but,  however  great  their  merit,  it  is  difficult  to  get  rid 
of  the  associations  of  disgust  and  horror  connected 
with  the  character  of  the  man.  It  is  remarkable 
that  none  of  his  remaining  pictures  are  painted  in 
oil-colors,  but  all  are  in  distemper,  as  if  he  had  feared 
to  avail  himself  of  the  secret  acquired  by  such  flagi- 
tious means,  and  the  knowledge  of  which,  though 
not  the  practice,  became  general  before  his  death. 

In  the  year  1471  Sixtus  IV.  became  pope.  Though 
by  no  means  endued  with  a  taste  for  art,  he  resolved 
to  emulate  the  Medici  family,  whose  example  and 
patronage  had  diffused  the  fashion,  if  not  the  feeling, 
throughout  all  Italy ;  and  having  built  that  beau- 
tiful chapel  in  the  Vatican  called  by  his  name,  and 
since  celebrated  as  the  Ststine  Chapel,  the  next  thing 
was  to  decorate  it  with  appropriate  paintings.  On 
one  side  of  it  was  to  be  represented  the  history  of 
Moses  ;  on  the  other,  the  history  of  Christ ;  the  old 
law  and  the  new  law,  the  Hebrew  and  the  Christian 
dispensation,  thus  placed  in  contrast  and  illustrat 
ing  each  other.  As  there  were  no  distinguished 
painters  at  that  time  in  Rome,  Sixtus  invited  from 
Florence  those  of  the  Tuscan  artists  who  had  the 
greatest  reputation  in  their  native  country.  The 
first  of  these  was  Sandro  (that  is,  Alessandro)  Bot- 
ticelli, remarkable  for  being  one  of  the  earliest 


CASTAGNO  AND  SIGNORELLI.  105 


painters  who  treated  mythological  subjects  on  a 
small  scale  as  decorations  for  furniture,  and  the 
first  who  made  drawings  for  the  purpose  of  being 
engraved.  These,  as  well  as  his  religious  pictures, 
he  treated  in  a  fanciful,  capricious  style.  Six  of 
his  pictures  are  in  the  Museum  at  Berlin  —  one  an 
undraped  Venus ;  and  two  are  in  the  Louvre.  San- 
dro  was  a  pupil  of  the  monk  Fra  Filippo  already 
mentioned,  and  after  his  death  took  charge  of  his 
young  son  Filippino  Lippi,  who  excelled  both  his 
father  and  his  preceptor,  and  became  one  of  the 
greatest  painters  of  his  time.*  Another  painter 
employed  by  Pope  Sixtus  was  Luca  Signorelli,  of 
Cortona,  the  first  who  not  only  drew  the  human 
form  with  admirable  correctness,  but,  aided  by  a 
degree  of  anatomical  knowledge  rare  in  those  days, 
threw  such  spirit  and  expression  into  the  various 
attitudes  of  his  figures,  that  his  great  work,  the 
frescoes  of  the  Cathedral  of  Orvieto,  representing 
the  Last  Judgment,  were  studied  and  even  imitated 
by  Michael  Angelo.  This  painter  was  apparently 
a  favorite  of  Fuseli,  whose  compositions  frequently 
remind  us  of  the  long  limbs  and  animated,  but 
sometimes  exaggerated,  action  of  Signorelli. 

*  He  completed  the  frescoes  in  the  Chapel  of  the  Carmine  at 
Florence,  left  unfinished  by  Masaccio,  as  already  related  at  page 
79. 


r 


DOMENICO  DAL  GHIRLANDAJO. 


Born  1451,  died  1495. 

Domenico  dal  Ghirlandajo  was  also  employed 
in  the  Sistine  Chapel,  but  he  was  then  young,  and 
of  his  two  pictures  there  one  only  remains,  the 
Calling  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Andrew,  —  so  inferior 
to  his  later  productions,  that  we  do  not  recognize 
here  the  hand  of  him  who  became  afterwards  one 
of  the  greatest  and  most  memorable  painters  of  his 
time. 

Domenico  Corradi,  or  Bigordi,  was  born  at  Flor- 
ence in  1451,  and  was  educated  by  his  father  for 
his  own  profession,  that  of  a  goldsmith.  In  this 
art  he  acquired  great  skill  and  displayed  in  his 
designs  uncommon  elegance  of  fancy.  He  was  the 
first  who  invented  the  silver  ornaments  in  the  form 
of  a  wreath  or  garland  ( Ghirlanda)  which  became 
a  fashion  with  the  Florentine  women,  and  from 
which  he  obtained  the  name  of  Ghirlandajo,  or 
Grillandajo,  as  it  is  sometimes  written.  At  the 
age  of  four-and-twenty  he  quitted  the  profession  of 
goldsmith,  and  became  a  painter.  While  employed 
in  his  father's  workshop  he  had  amused  himself 
with  taking  the  likenesses  of  all  the  persons  he  saw, 

(106) 


GHIRLANDAJO. 


107 


so  rapidly,  and  with  so  much  liveliness  and  truth, 
as  to  astonish  every  one.  The  exact  drawing  and 
modelling  of  forms,  the  inventive  fancy  exercised  in 
his  mechanical  art,  and  the  turn  for  portraiture, 
are  displayed  in  all  his  subsequent  productions. 
These  were  so  many  in  number,  so  various  in  sub- 
ject, and  so  admirable,  that  only  a  few  of  them  can 
be  noticed  here.  After  he  returned  from  Rome  his 
first  work  was  the  painting  of  a  chapel  of  the  Ves- 
pucci family,  in  the  church  of  Ognissanti  (All 
Saints),  in  which  he  introduced,  in  1485,  the  por 
trait  of  Amerigo  Vespuccio  the  navigator,  who 
afterwards  gave  his  name  to  a  new  world. 

Ghirlandajo  painted  a  chapel  for  a  certain  Flor- 
entine citizen,  Francesco  Sassetti,  in  the  church 
of  the  Trinita.  Here  he  represented  the  whole  life 
of  Francesco's  patron  saint,  St.  Francis,  in  a  series 
of  pictures,  full  of  feeling  and  dramatic  power.  As 
he  was  confined  to  the  popular  histories  and  tra- 
ditions, which  had  been  treated  again  and  again  by 
successive  painters,  and  in  which  it  was  necessary 
to  conform  to  certain  fixed  and  prescribed  rules,  it 
was  difficult  to  introduce  any  variety  in  the  concep- 
tion. Yet  he  has  done  this  simply  by  the  mere 
force  of  expression.  The  most  excellent  of  these 
frescoes  is  the  Death  of  St.  Francis,  surrounded  by 
the  monks  of  his  order,  in  which  the  aged  heads, 
full  of  grief,  awe,  resignation,  are  depicted  with 
wonderful  skill.  At  the  foot  of  the  bier  is  an  old 
bishop  chanting  the  litanies,  with  spectacles  on  his 


108 


EAHLY  ITALIAN  PAINTEitS. 


nose,  which  is  the  earliest  known  representatk  n  of 
these  implements,  then  recently  invented.  On  one 
side  of  the  picture  is  the  kneeling  figure  of  Fran- 
cesco Sassetti,  and  on  the  other  Madonna  Nera,  his 
wife.  All  these  histories  of  St.  Francis  are  engraved 
in  Lasinio's  "  Early  Florentine  Masters,"  as  ar9 
also  the  magnificent  frescoes  in  the  choir  of  Santa 
Maria  Novella,  his  greatest  work.  This  he  under- 
took for  a  generous  and  public-spirited  citizen  of 
Florence,  Giovanni  Tornabuoni,  who  agreed  to  re- 
pair the  choir  at  his  own  cost,  and,  moreover,  to 
pay  Ghirlandajo  one  thousand  two  hundred  gold 
ducats  for  painting  the  walls  in  fresco,  and  to  add 
two  hundred  more  if  he  were  well  satisfied  with  the 
performance. 

Ghirlandajo  devoted  four  years  to  his  task.  He 
painted  on  the  right-hand  wall  the  history  of  St. 
John  the  Baptist,  and  on  the  left  various  incidents 
from  the  life  of  the  Virgin.  One  of  the  most  beau- 
tiful represents  the  Birth  of  the  Virgin.  Female 
attendants,  charming  graceful  figures,  are  aiding 
the  mother  or  intent  on  the  new-born  child  ;  while 
a  lady,  in  the  elegant  costume  of  the  Florentine 
ladies  of  that  time,  and  holding  a  handkerchief  in 
her  hand,  is  seen  advancing,  as  if  to  pay  her  visit 
of  congratulation.  This  is  the  portrait  of  Ginevra 
de'  Benci,  one  of  the  loveliest  women  of  the  time. 
He  has  introduced  her  again  as  one  of  the  attend- 
ants in  the  Visit  of  the  Virgin  to  St.  Elizabeth.  In 
the  other  pictures  he  has  introduced  the  figures  of 


GHIRLANDAJO. 


109 


Lorenzo  do'  Medici,  Poliziano,  Demetrio  Greco, 
Marsilio  Ficino,  and  other  celebrated  persons  (of 
whom  there  are  notices  in  Roscoe's  6 i  Life  of  Lo- 
renzo de'  Medici  "),  besides  his  own  portrait,  and 
those  of  many  other  persons  of  that  time. 

The  idea  of  crowding  these  sacred  and  mystical 
subjects  with  portraits  of  real  persons  and  repre- 
sentations of  familiar  objects  may  seem,  on  first 
view,  shocking  to  the  taste,  ridiculous  anachro- 
nisms, and  destructive  of  all  solemnity  and  unity  of 
feeling.  Such,  however,  is  not  the  case,  but  the 
reverse.  In  the  first  place,  the  sacred  and  ideal  per 
sonages  am  never  portraits  from  nature,  and  are 
very  loftily  conceived  in  point  of  expression  and 
significance.  In  the  second  place,  the  real  person- 
ages introduced  are  seldom  or  never  actors,  merely 
attendants  aad  spectators  in  events  which  may  be 
conceived  to  belong  to  all  time,  and  to  have  no 
especial  locality  ;  and  they  have  so  much  dignity  in 
their  aspects,  the  costumes  are  so  picturesque,  and 
the  grouping  is  so  fine  and  imaginative,  that  only 
the  coldest  and  most  pedantic  critic  could  wish 
them  absent. 

When  Ghirlandajo  had  finished  this  grand  series 
of  pictures,  his  patron,  Giovanni  Tornabuoni,  de- 
clared himself  well  pleased  ;  but,  at  the  same  time, 
expressed  a  wish  that  Ghirlandajo  would  be  content 
with  the  sum  first  stipulated,  and  forego  the  ad- 
ditional two  hundred  ducats.  The  high-minded 
painter,  who  esteemed  glory  and  honor  much  more 


110  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


than  riches,  immediately  withdrew  his  claim,  say- 
ing that  he  cared  far  more  to  have  satisfied  his 
employer  than  for  any  amount  of  payment. 

Besides  his  frescoes,  Ghirlandajo  painted  many 
easel  pictures  in  oil  and  in  distemper.  There  is  one 
of  great  beauty  in  the  Louvre — the  Visitation 
(1022),  about  four  feet  in  height.  But  the  subject 
he  most  frequently  repeated  was  the  Adoration  of 
the  Magi.  In  the  Florence  Gallery  are  two  pic- 
tures of  this  subject ;  another  of  a  circular  form, 
which  had  been  painted  for  the  Tornabuoni  family, 
was  in  the  collection  of  Lucien  Bonaparte.  In  the 
Munich  Gallery  there  is  one  picture  by  Ghirlan- 
dajo, and  in  the  Museum  at  Berlin  there  are  six ; 
one  of  them  a  beautiful  portrait  of  a  young  girl  of 
the  Tornabuoni  family,  whom  he  has  also  intro- 
duced into  his  frescoes. 

It  may  be  said,  on  the  whole,  that  the  attention 
of  Ghirlandajo  was  directed  less  to  the  delineation 
of  form  than  to  the  expression  of  his  heads,  and  the 
imitation  of  life  and  nature  as  exhibited  in  feature 
and  countenance.  He  also  carried  the  mechanical 
and  technical  part  of  his  art  to  a  perfection  it  had 
not  before  attained.  He  was  the  best  colorist  in 
fresco  who  had  yet  appeared,  and  his  colors  have 
stood  extremely  well  to  this  day. 

Another  characteristic  which  renders  Ghirlandajo 
very  interesting  as  an  artist  was  his  diligent  and 
progressive  improvement  •;  every  successive  produc- 
tion was  better  than  the  last.    He  was  also  an 


GHIRL  AND  A  J  0. 


11 1 


excellent  worker  in  mosaic,  which,  from  its  dura 
bility,  he  used  to  call  44  painting  for  eternity." 

To  his  rare  and  various  accomplishments  as  as 
artist,  Ghirlandajo  added  the  most  amiable  quali- 
ties as  a  man,  — qualities  which  obtained  him  tho 
lovo  as  well  as  the  admiration  of  his  fellow-citizens. 
He  was,  says  Vasari,  u  the  delight  of  the  age  in 
which  he  lived."  He  was  still  in  the  prime  of  life 
and  in  the  full  possession  of  conscious  power,  —  so 
that  he  was  heard  to  wish  they  would  give  him  the 
walls  all  round  the  city  to  cover  with  frescoes,  — 
when  he  was  seized  with  sudden  illness,  and  died, 
at  the  age  of  forty-four,  to  the  infinite  grief  of  his 
numerous  scholars,  by  whom  he  was  interred,  with 
every  demonstration  of  mournful  respect,  in  the 
church  of  Santa  Maria  Novella,  in  the  year  1495. 
His  two  brothers,  Davide  and  Benedetto,  were  also 
painters,  and  assisted  him  in  the  execution  of  his 
great  works ;  and  his  son,  Ridolfo  Ghirlandajo, 
became  afterwards  an  excellent  artist,  but  he  be- 
longs to  a  later  period. 

Ghirlandajo  formed  many  scholars  ;  among  them 
was  the  great  Michael  Angelo.  Contemporary  with 
Ghirlandajo  lived  an  artist,  memorable  for  having 
aided  with  his  instructions  both  Michael  Angelo  and 
Lionardo  da  Vinci.  This  was  Andrea  Verrocchio 
(born  1432,  died  1488),  who  was  a  goldsmith,  and 
sculptor  in  marble  and  bronze,  and  also  a  painter, 
though  in  painting  his  works  are  few  and  little 
known.     He  drew  admirably,  and  is  celebrated 


112  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


through  the  celebrity  of  the  artists  formed  in  his 
school.  Among  them  was  Lionardo  da  Vinci.  He 
is  said  to  have  been  the  first  who  took  casts  in 
plaster  from  life  as  aids  in  the  study  of  form.  In 
the  collection  of  Miss  Rogers,  the  sister  of  the  poet, 
there  is  a  portrait  in  profile,  by  Verrocchio,  of  a 
Florentine  lady  of  rank,  rather  hard  and  severe  in 
the  execution  and  drawing,  yet  with  a  certain 
simple  elegance  —  a  look  of  high  breeding  —  which 
is  very  striking. 


ANDREA  MANTEGNA. 


Born  1430,  died  1506. 

For  a  while  we  must  leave  beautiful  Florence  and 
her  painters,  who  were  striving  after  perfection  by 
imitating  what  they  saw  in  nature.  —  the  common 
appearances  of  the  objects,  animate  and  inanimate, 
around  them,  —  and  turn  to  another  part  of  Italy, 
where  there  arose  a  man  of  genius  who  pursued  a 
wholly  different  course  ;  at  least,  he  started  from  a 
different  point ;  and  who  exercised  for  a  time  a  great 
influence  on  all  the  painters  of  Italy,  including 
those  of  Florence.  This  was  Andrea  Mantegna, 
particularly  interesting  to  English  readers,  as  his 
most  celebrated  work,  the  Triumph  of  Julius  Caasar, 
is  now  preserved  in  the  palace  of  Hampton  Court, 
and  has  formed  part  of  the  royal  collection  ever 
since  the  days  of  Charles  I. 

Andrea  Mantegna  was  the  son  of  very  poor  and 
obscure  parents,  and  born  near  Padua  in  1430.* 
All  we  learn  of  his  early  childhood  amounts  to  this : 

*  The  dates  of  Mantegna's  birth  and  death  were  long  subjects  of 
uncertainty  and  controversy.  According  to  some  authors,  he  was 
born  in  1451,  and  died  in  1517  ;  but  the  best  and  latest  authorities 
are  now  agreed  upon  the  dates  as  given  in  the  text. 

8  (113) 


114  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


that  he  was  employed  in  keeping  sheep,  and, 
being  conducted  to  the  city,  entered — we  know 
not  by  what  chance  —  the  school  of  Francesco 
Squarcione. 

About  the  middle  of  this  century,  from  which 
time  we  date  the  revival  of  letters  in  Europe,  the 
study  of  the  Greek  language  and  a  taste  for  the 
works  of  the  classical  authors  had  become  more  and 
more  diffused  through  Italy.  We  are  told  that  "  to 
write  Latin  correctly,  to  understand  the  allusions 
of  the  best  authors,  to  learn  the  rudiments  at  least 
of  Greek,  were  the  objects  of  every  cultivated  mind." 
Classical  literature  was  particularly  studied  at  the 
University  of  Padua.  Squarcione,  a  native  of  that 
city,  and  by  profession  a  painter,  was  early  smit- 
ten with  this  passion  for  the  antique.  He  not  only 
travelled  over  all  Italy,  hut  visited  Greece  in  search 
of  the  remains  of  ancient  art.  Of  those  which  he 
could  not  purchase  or  remove  he  obtained  casts  or 
copies  ;  and,  returning  to  Padua,  he  opened  there 
a  school  or  academy  for  painters  —  not,  indeed,  the 
most  celebrated  nor  the  most  influential,  but  at 
that  time  the  best  attended  in  Italy.  Squarcione 
numbered  one  hundred  and  thirty-seven  pupils,  and 
was  considered  the  best  teacher  of  his  time.  Yet  of 
all  this  crowd  of  students  the  names  of  three  only 
are  preserved,  and  of  these  only  one  has  attained 
lasting  celebrity.  By  Squarcione  himself  we  hear 
only  of  one  undoubted  picture  displaying  great 
talent ;  but  it  appears  that  lie  painted  little,  em 


MANTEGNA. 


ployed  his  scholars  to  execute  what  works  were 
confided  to  him,  and  gave  himself  up  to  the  busi- 
ness of  instruction. 

Andrea  Mantegna  was  only  known  in  the  acad- 
emy of  Squarcione  as  a  poor  boy,  whose  talent  and 
docility  rendered  him  a  favorite  with  his  master. 
He  worked  early  and  late,  copying  with  assiduity 
the  models  which  were  set  before  him,  drawing 
from  the  fragments  of  statues,  the  busts,  the  bas- 
reliefs,  ornaments,  and  vases,  with  which  Squarcione 
had  enriched  his  academy.  At  the  age  of  nineteen 
Andrea  painted  his  first  great  picture,  in  which  he 
represented  the  four  evangelists  ;  his  imagination 
and  his  pencil  familiarized  only  with  the  forms  of 
classical  art,  he  gave  to  these  sacred  personages  the 
air  and  attitude  of  heathen  philosophers,  but  they 
excited  nevertheless  great  applause. 

At  this  time  the  Venetian  Jacopo  Bellini,  father 
of  the  two  great  Bellini,  of  whom  we  shall  have  to 
speak  presently,  arrived  in  Padua,  where  he  was 
employed  to  paint  some  pictures.  He  was  consid- 
ered as  the  rival  of  Squarcione,  both  as  a  painter 
and  teacher.  Andrea  was  captivated  by  the  talents 
and  conversation  of  the  Venetian  ;  and  yet  more 
attracted  by  the  charms  of  his  daughter  Nicolasa, 
whose  hand  he  asked  and  obtained  from  her  father. 
Jacopo  Bellini  was  of  opinion  that  he  who  had 
given  such  early  proofs  of  assiduity  and  ability 
must  ultimately  succeed  ;  and,  though  Andrea  wixa 
Btill  poor  and  but  little  known,  and  the  Bellini  fam- 


116 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


ily  already  rich  and  celebrated,  he  did  not  hesitate 
to  bestow  his  daughter  on  the  youthful  and  modest 
suitor.  This  marriage,  and  what  he  regarded  as 
the  revolt  of  his  favorite  disciple,  so  enraged  Squar- 
cione  that  he  never  forgave  the  offence.  Andrea 
having  soon  after  completed  a  picture  which  ex- 
colled  his  first,  his  old  master  attacked  it  with  the 
most  merciless  severity,  and  publicly  denounced  its 
faults.  The  figures,  he  said,  were  stiff,  were  cold 
—  without  life,  without  nature  ;  and  observed  sar- 
castically that  Andrea  should  have  painted  them 
white,  like  marble,  and  then  the  color  would  have 
harmonized  with  the  drawing.  This  criticism  came 
with  a  particularly  ill  grace  from  him  who  had 
taught  the  very  principles  he  now  condemned,  and 
Andrea  felt  it  bitterly.  The  Italian  annotator  of 
Vasari  remarks,  very  truly,  that  excessive  praise 
often  turns  the  brain  of  the  weak  man,  and  renders 
the  man  of  genius  slothful  and  careless  ;  but  that 
severe  and  unjust  censure,  while  it  crushes  medioc- 
rity, acts  as  a  spur  and  excitement  to  real  genius, 
Andrea  showed  that  he  had  sufficient  strength  of 
mind  to  rise  superior  to  both  praise  and  censure  ; 
he  felt  with  disgust  and  pain  the  malignity  of  his 
old  master  ;  but  he  knew  that  much  of  his  criticism 
was  just.  Instead  of  showing  any  sense  of  injury 
or  discouragement,  he  set  to  work  with  fresh  ardor. 
He  drew  and  studied  from  nature,  instead  of  con- 
fining himself  to  the  antique ;  he  imitated  the  fresher 
and  livelier  coloring  of  his  new  relations,  the  Bellini ; 


MANTEGNA. 


117 


and  his  next  picture,  which  represented  a  legend  of 
St.  Christopher,  was  so  superior  to  the  last,  that  it 
silenced  the  open  cavilling  of  Squarcione,  though  it 
crild  not  extinguish  his  animosity,  perhaps  rather 
added  to  it ;  for  Andrea  had  introduced  among  the 
numerous  figures  in  his  fresco  that  of  Squarcione 
himself,  and  the  likeness  was  by  no  means  a  flatter- 
ing one.  Notwithstanding  the  admiration  which 
these  and  other  works  excited  in  his  native  city, 
•the  enmity  of  his  old  master  seems  to  have  rendered 
Padua  intolerable  as  a  residence.  Andrea  therefore 
went  to  Verona,  where  he  executed  several  frescoes 
and  some  smaller  pictures ;  and,  being  invited  to 
Mantua  by  Ludovico  Gonzaga,  he  finally  entered 
ths  service  of  that  prince.  The  native  courtesy  of 
Andrea's  manners,  as  well  as  his  acquired  knowl- 
edge and  his  ability  in  his  profession,  recommended 
him  to  his  new  patron,  who  loaded  him  with  honors 
and  favors. 

Some  years  after  he  had  taken  up  his  residence  in 
.Mantua,  and  had  executed  for  the  Marquis  Ludovico 
and  his  son  and  successor  Frederigo  several  works 
vth.ich  yet  remain,  Andrea  was  invited  to  Rome  by 
P  /pe  Innocent  VIII. ,  to  paint  for  him  a  chapel  in 
the  Belvedere.  The  Marquis  of  Mantua  permitted 
him  to  depart  but  for  a  time  only  ;  the  permission 
W£,s  accompanied  by  gifts  and  by  letters  of  recom- 
mendation to  the  pontiff ;  and,  the  more  to  show  the 
esteem  in  which  the  painter  was  held,  he  bestowed 
on  him  the  honor  of  knighthood. 


118  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


Mantegna,  on  his  arrival  in  Rome,  set  himself  to 
work  with  his  characteristic  diligence  and  enthusi- 
asm, and  covered  the  walls  and  the  ceiling  with  a 
multiplicity  of  subjects,  executed,  says  Vasari,  with 
the  delicacy  of  miniatures.  These  beautiful  paint- 
ings existed  till  late  in  the  last  century,  when  Pius 
VI.  destroyed  the  chapel  to  make  room  for  his  new 
museum.  While  Andrea  was  employed  at  Rome 
by  Pope  Innocent,  a  pleasant  and  characteristic 
incident  occurred,  which  does  honor  both  to  him 
and  to  the  pope.  His  holiness  was  at  this  time 
much  occupied  and  disturbed  by  state  affairs  ;  and 
it  happened  that  the  payments  were  not  made  with 
the  regularity  which  Andrea  desired.  The  pope 
sometimes  visited  the  artist  at  his  work,  and  one 
day  he  asked  him  the  meaning  of  a  certain  female 
figure  on  which  he  was  painting.  Andrea  replied, 
with  a  significant  look,  that  he  was  trying  to  repre- 
sent Patience.  The  pope,  understanding  him  at 
once,  replied,  "  If  you  would  place  Patience  in  fit- 
ting company,  you  should  paint  Discretion  at  her 
side."  Andrea  took  the  hint,  and  said  no  more  ; 
and  when  his  work  was  completed,  the  pope  not 
only  paid  him  the  sums  stipulated,  but  rewarded 
him  munificently  besides.  About  the  year  1487  he 
returned  to  Mantua,  where  he  built  himself  a  mag- 
nificent house,  painted  inside  and  outside  by  his  own 
hand,  and  in  which  he  resided,  in  great  esteem  and 
honor,  until  his  death  in  1506.  He  was  buried  in 
the  church  of  his  patron  saint,  St  Andrew,  wher» 


MANTEGNA. 


119 


nis  monument  in  bronze  and  several  of  his  pictures 
may  yet  be  seen. 

The  existing  works  of  Andrea  Mantegna  are  so 
numerous,  that  we  must  content  ourselves  with 
recording  only  the  most  remarkable,  and  the  occa- 
sions on  which  they  were  painted. 

In  the  year  1476,  Andrea  executed  for  his  friend 
and  patron,  the  Marquis  Ludovico  Gonzaga,  the 
famous  frieze  representing  in  nine  compartments 
the  triumph  of  Julius  Caesar  after  his  conquest  of 
Gaul.  These  were  placed  round  the  upper  part  of 
a  hall  in  the  palace  of  San  Sebastiano,  at  Mantua, 
which  Ludovico  had  lately  erected.  They  hung  in 
this  palace  for  a  century  and  a  half.  When  Mantua 
was  sacked  and  pillaged,  in  1629,  they,  with  many 
other  pictures,  escaped ;  the  Duke  Carlo  Gonzaga, 
reduced  to  poverty  by  the  vices  and  prodigality  of 
his  predecessors,  and  the  wars  and  calamities  of  his 
own  time,  sold  his  gallery  of  pictures  to  our  King 
Charles  I.  for  twenty  thousand  pounds ;  and  these 
and  other  works  of  Andrea  Mantegna  came  to  Eng- 
land with  the  rest  of  the  Mantuan  collection.  When 
King  Charles'  pictures  were  sold  by  the  Parliament 
after  his  death,  the  Triumph  of  Julius  Cassar  was 
purchased  for  one  thousand  pounds  ;  but,  on  the 
return  of  Charles  II.,  it  was  restored  to  the  royal 
collection,  how  or  by  whom  does  not  appear.  Tl -e 
nine  pictures  now  hang  in  the  palace  of  Hamp- 
ton Court.  They  are  painted  in  distemper  on 
twilled  linen,  which  has  been  stretched  on  frames 


120 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


and  originally  placed  against  the  wall  with  orna« 
men  ted  pilasters  dividing  the  compartments.  In 
their  present  faded  and  dilapidated  condition,  hur- 
ried and  uninformed  visitors  will  probably  pass 
them  over  with  a  cursory  glance  ;  yet,  if  we  except 
the  Cartoons  of  Raphael,  Hampton  Court  contains 
nothing  so  curious  and  valuable  as  this  old  frieze 
of  Andrea  Mantegna,  which,  notwithstanding  the 
frailty  of  the  material  on  which  it  is  executed,  has 
now  existed  for  three  hundred  and  sixty-seven  years, 
and,  having  been  frequently  engraved,  is  celebrated 
all  over  Europe. 

Andrea  retained  through  his  whole  life  that  taste 
for  the  forms  and  effects  of  sculpture  which  had 
given  to  all  his  earlier  works  a  certain  hardness, 
meagreness,  and  formality  of  outline,  neither  agree- 
able in  itself  nor  in  harmony  with  pictorial  illusion ; 
but  in  the  Triumph  of  Julius  Csesar  the  combina- 
tion of  a  sculptural  style  with  the  aims  and  beauties 
of  painting  was  not,  as  we  usually  find  it,  misplaced 
and  unpleasing ;  it  was  fitted  to  the  designed  pur- 
pose, and  executed  with  wonderful  success  ;  the  in- 
numerable figures  move  one  after  another  in  a  long 
and  splendid  procession,  as  in  an  ancient  bas-relief, 
but  colored  lightly,  in  a  style  resembling  the  an- 
tique paintings  at  Pompeii.  Originally  it  appears 
that  the  nine  compartments  were  separated  from 
each  other  by  sculptured  pilasters.  In  the  first 
picture,  or  compartment,  we  have  the  opening  of 
the  procession  ;  trumpets,  incense  burning,  stand- 


MANTEGNA. 


121 


ards  borne  aloft  by  the  victorious  soldiers.  In  the 
second  picture,  we  have  the  statues  of  the  gods  car- 
ried off  from  the  temples  of  the  enemy  ;  battering- 
rams,  implements  of  war,  heaps  of  glittering  armor 
carried  on  men's  shoulders,  or  borne  aloft  in  char- 
iots. In  the  third  picture,  more  splendid  trophies 
of  a  similar  kind  ;  huge  vases  filled  with  gold  coin, 
tripods,  &c.  In  the  fourth,  more  such  trophies, 
with  the  oxen  crowned  with  garlands  for  the  sacri- 
fice. In  the  fifth"  picture  are  four  elephants  adorned 
with  rich  garlands  of  fruits  and  flowers,  bearing  on 
their  backs  magnificent  candelabra,  and  attended 
by  beautiful  youths.  In  the  sixth  are  figures  bear- 
ing vases,  and  others  displaying  the  arms  of  the 
vanquished.  The  seventh  picture  shows  us  the 
unhappy  captives,  who,  according  to  the  barbarous 
Roman  custom,  were  exhibited  on  these  occasions 
to  the  scoffing  and  exulting  populace.  There  is 
here  a  group  of  female  captives  of  all  ages,  among 
them  a  young,  dejected,  bride-like  figure,  a  woman 
carrying  her  infant  children,  and  a  mother  leading 
by  the  hand  her  little  boy,  who  lifts  up  his  foot  as 
if  he  had  hurt  it ;  this  group  is  particularly  pointed 
out  by  Vasari,  who  praises  it  for  its  nature  and  its 
grace.  In  the  eighth  picture,  we  have  a  group  01 
singers  and  musicians,  and  among  them  is  seen  a 
youth  whose  unworthy  office  it  was  to  mock  at  the 
wretched  captives,  in  which  he  is  assisted  by  a 
chorus  of  the  common  people  ;  a  beautiful  youth 
with  a  tambourine  is  distinguished  by  singular 


122 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


spirit  and  grace.  In  the  last  picture  appears  th<s 
conqueror,  Julius  Caesar,  in  a  sumptuous  chariot 
richly  adorned  with  sculptures  in  the  antique  style 
He  is  surrounded  and  followed  by  a  crowd  of  fig- 
ures, and  among  them  is  seen  a  youth  bearing  aloft 
a  standard,  on  which  is  inscribed  Caesar's  memora- 
ble words,  Veni,  Vidi,  Vici  —  "  I  came,  I  saw,  I 
conquered." 

The  inconceivable  richness  of  fancy  displayed  in 
this  triumphal  procession,  the  numbers  of  figures 
and  objects  of  every  kind,  the  propriety  of  the 
antique  costumes,  ornaments,  armor,  &c,,  with 
the  scientific  manner  in  which  the  perspective  is 
managed,  the  whole  being  adapted  to  its  intended 
situation  far  above  the  eye,  so  that  the  under  sur- 
faces of  the  objects  are  alone  visible  (as  would  be 
the  case  when  viewed  from  below),  the  upper  sur- 
faces vanishing  into  air  ;  all  these  merits  combined 
render  this  series  of  pictures  one  of  the  grandest 
works  of  the  fifteenth  century,  worthy  of  the  atten- 
tion and  admiration  of  all  beholders.* 

When  the  great  Flemish  painter,  Rubens,  was  at 
Mantua  in  1G06,  he  was  struck  with  astonishment 
on  viewing  these  works  and  made  a  fine  copy  in  a 
reduced  form  of  the  fifth  compartment.  Copy,  how- 
ever, it  cannot  properly  be  called  ;  it  is  rather  a 
version  in  the  manner  of  Rubens,  the  style  of  the 

*  In  the  British  Museum  there  is  a  fine  set  of  the  wood-cuts  in 
ehiaro-scuro,  executed  by  Andrea  Andreani,  about  1599,  when  tha 
original  frieze  still  kept  its  place  in  the  palace  at  Mantua. 


MANTEQNA. 


123 


whole,  and  even  some  of  the  circumstances,  being 
altered.  This  fine  picture  is  now  in  the  possession 
of  Mr.  Rogers,  the  poet. 

Another  of  the  most  celebrated  of  Mantegna's 
works  is  the  great  picture  now  in  the  Louvre,  at 
Paris,  and  called  by  the  Italians  "  la  Madonna 
della  Vittoria,"  the  Madonna  of  Victory.  The 
occasion  on  which  it  wras  painted  recalls  a  great 
event  in  history,  the  invasion  of  Italy  by  Charles 
VIII.,  of  France.  Of  all  the  wars  undertaken  by 
ambitious  and  unprincipled  monarchs,  whether  in- 
stigated by  revenge,  by  policy,  or  by  rapacious  thirst 
of  dominion,  this  invasion  of  Italy,  in  1495,  was  the 
most  flagitious  in  its  injustice,  its  folly,  and  its  cru- 
elty ;  it  was  also  the  most  retributive  in  its  results. 
Charles,  after  ravaging  the  whole  country  from  the 
Alps  to  Calabria,  found  himself  obliged  to  retreat, 
and  on  the  banks  of  the  Taro  was  met  by  Gian- 
Francesco,  Marquis  of  Mantua,  the  son  and  suc- 
cessor of  Frederigo,  at  the  head  of  an  army.  On 
the  part  of  the  Italians  it  was  rather  a  victory 
missed  than  a  victory  won  ;  for  the  French  con- 
tinued their  retreat  across  the  Alps,  and  the  loss  of 
the  Italians  was  immense.  The  Marquis  of  Mantua, 
however,  chose  to  consider  it  as  a  victory.  He  built 
a  church  on  the  occasion,  and  commanded  Andrea 
Mantegna  to  paint  a  picture  for  the  high  altar, 
Which  should  express  at  once  his  devotion  and  his 
gratitude.  Considering  the  subject  and  the  occa- 
sion, the  French  must  have  had  a  particular  and 


124 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


malicious  pleasure  in  placing  this  picture  in  the 
Louvre,  where  it  now  hangs,  at  the  upper  end  of 
that  immense  gallery. 

It  represents  in  the  centre,  under  a  canopy  or 
arbor  composed  of  garlands  of  foliage  and  fruit,  and 
Beated  on  a  throne,  the  Virgin  Mary,  who  holds  on 
her  knees  the  infant  Saviour.  On  her  right  stand 
the  archangel  Michael  and  St.  Maurice  in  complete 
armor.  On  the  left  are  the  patron  saints  of  Man- 
tua, St.  Longinus  and  St.  Andrew,  with  the  infant 
St.  John.  More  in  front,  on  each  side,  are  the  Mar- 
quis of  Mantua  and  his  wife,  the  celebrated  and 
accomplished  Isabella  d'Este,  who,  kneeling,  return 
thanks  for  the  so-called  victory  over  the  French. 
The  figure  of  the  Marchesa  Isabella  is  still,  in  the 
French  catalogue  of  the  Louvre,  styled  St.  Eliza- 
beth, an  error  pointed  out  long  since  by  Lanzi  and 
others.  This  picture  was  finished  in  the  year  1500, 
when  Andrea  was  seventy.  In  beauty  and  softness 
of  execution  it  exceeds  all  his  other  works,  while 
in  the  poetical  conception  of  the  whole,  the  grand- 
eur of  the  saints,  and  the  expression  in  the  coun- 
tenance of  Gonzaga  as  he  gazes  upwards  in  a  trans- 
port of  devotion,  it  is  worthy  of  his  best  years.  In 
the  Louvre  are  three  other  pictures  by  Andrea  Man- 
tegna.  One  is  the  Crucifixion  of  our  Saviour,  a 
small  picture,  remarkable  for  containing  his  own 
portrait  in  the  figure  of  the  soldier  seen  half-lengtb 
in  front.  Another,  an  allegorical  subject,  repre- 
sents the  Vices  flying  before  Wisdom,  Chastity,  and 


MANTEGNA. 


125 


Philosophy,  while  Justice,  Fortitude,  and  Temper- 
ance,  return  from  above,  once  more  to  take  up 
their  habitation  among  men.  Another  picture,  of 
exceeding  beauty,  represents  the  Muses  dancing  to 
the  sound  of  Apollo's  lyre.  Mars,  Venus,  and 
Cupid,  stand  on  a  rocky  height,  looking  upon  them, 
while  Vulcan  is  seen  at  a  distance  threatening  his 
faithless  consort.  In  this  little  picture  Mantegna 
seems  inspired  by  the  very  spirit  of  Greek  art.  The 
Muses  are  designed  with  exquisite  taste  and  feel- 
ing. It  is  probably  the  chef-d'oeuvre  of  the  artist 
in  his  own  particular  style,  that  for  which  his 
natural  turn  of  mind  and  early  studies  under  Squar- 
cione  had  fitted  him.  In  general  his  religious  pic- 
tures are  not  pleasing  ;  and  many  of  his  classical 
subjects  have  a  tasteless  meagreness  in  the  forms, 
which  is  quite  opposed  to  all  our  conceptions  of 
beauty  and  greatness  of  style  ;  but  he  has  done 
grand  things.  Besides  the  works  already  men 
tioned,  there  are  four  pictures  in  the  Museum,  at 
Berlin,  and  others  at  Vienna,  Florence,  and  Naples. 
Of  many  disciples  formed  by  Andrea  Mantegna,  not 
one  attained  to  any  fame  or  influence  in  his  art. 
They  all  exaggerated  his  manner  and  defects,  as  is 
usual  with  scholars  who  follow  the  manner  of  their 
master.  His  two  sons  were  both  artists,  studious 
and  respectable  men,  but  neither  of  them  inherited 
the  genius  of  their  father.  Ariosto,  in  a  famous 
stanza  of  his  great  poem  ("  Orlando  Furioso," 
cxxxiii.,  st.  2),  in  which  he  has  commemorated  all 


126  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


the  leading  painters  of  his  own  time,  places  the 
name  of  Andrea  Mantegna  between  those  of  Leon- 
ardo da  Vinci  and  Gian  Bellini : 

"E  quei  che  furo  a  nostri  di,  o  son  ora, 
Leonardo,  Andrea  Mantegna,  Gian  Bellino, 
Duo  Dossi,  e  quel,  che  a  par  sculpe,  e  colora 
Michel  piu  che  mortal  Angel  divino  ; 
Bastiano,  Raffael,  Titian  ch'  honora 
Non  men  Cador,  che  quei  Venezia  e  Urbino  ; 
E  gli  altri  di  cui  tal  opra  si  vede 
Qual  della  prisca  eta  si  legge,  e  erode." 

"  Lo  !  Leonardo  !  Gian'  Bellino  view, 
Two  Dossi,  and  Mantegna  reached  by  few, 
With  these  an  angel,  Michael,  styled  divine,, 
In  whom  the  sculptor  and  the  painter  join  : 
Sebastian,  Titian,  Raphael,  three  that  grac€ 
Cadora,  Venice,  and  Urbino's  race  : 
Each  genius  that  can  past  events  recall 
In  living  figures  on  the  storied  wall." 


The  Invention  of  Engraving  on  Wood  and  Cm 
per:  1423—1452. 

Andrea  Mantegna  was  not  only  eminent  as  a 
painter  ;  he  owed  nmch  of  his  celebrity  and  his 
influence  over  the  artists  of  that  age  to  the  multi- 
plication and  diffusion  of  his  designs  by  copper- 
plate engraving,  an  art  unknown  til)  his  time. 
He  was  one  of  the  first  who  practised  it-- -certainly 
the  first  painter  who  engraved  his  own  designs*. 

In  these  days,  when  we  cannot  walk  through 


MANTEGNA. 


127 


streets  even  of  a  third-rate  town  without  passing 
shops  with  their  windows  filled  with  engravings 
and  prints  ;  when  not  our  books  only,  but  the 
newspapers  that  lie  on  our  tables,  are  illustrated ; 
when  uhe  Penny  Magazine  can  place  a  little  print 
after  Mantegna  at  once  before  the  eyes  of  fifty 
thousand  readers  ;  when  every  beautiful  work  of 
art  as  it  appears  is  multiplied  and  diffused  by  hun- 
dreds and  thousands  of  copies ;  when  the  talk  is 
rife  of  wondrous  inventions  by  which  such  copies 
shall  reproduce  themselves  to  infinitude,  without 
change  or  deterioration,  we  find  it  difficult  to  throw 
our  imagination  back  to  a  time  when  such  things 
were  not. 

What  printing  did  for  literature,  engraving  on 
wood  and  copper  has  dope  for  painting  —  not  only 
diffused  the  designs  and  inventions  of  artists,  which 
would  otherwise  be  confined  to  one  locality,  but  in 
many  cases  preserved  those  which  would  otherwise 
have  perished  altogether.  It  is  interesting  to  re- 
member that  three  inventions  to  which  we  owe  such 
infinite  instruction  and  delight  were  almost  simul- 
taneous. The  earliest  known  impression  of  an  en- 
graving on  wood  is  dated  1423  ;  the  earliest  im- 
pression from  an  engraved  metal  plate  was  made 
about  1452  ;  and  the  first  printed  book,  properly 
so  called,  bears  date,  according  to  the  best  author- 
ities, 1455. 

Stamps  for  impressing  signatures  and  characters 
on  paper,  in  which  the  required  forms  wero  cut 


128 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


upon  blocks  of  wood,  we  find  in  use  in  the  earliest 
times.  Seals  for  convents  and  societies,  in  which 
the  distinctive  devices  or  letters  were  cut  hollow 
upon  wood  or  metal,  were  known  in  the  fourteenth 
century.  The  transition  seems  easy  to  the  next 
application  of  the  art,  and  thence,  perhaps,  it  has. 
happened  that  the  name  of  the  man  who  made  this 
step  is  lost.  All  that  is  certainly  known  is,  that 
the  first  wood-blocks  for  the  purpose  of  pictorial 
representations  were  cut  in  Germany,  in  the  prov- 
ince of  Suabia  ;  that  the  first  use  made  of  the  art 
was  for  the  multiplication  of  playing-cards,  which 
about  the  year  1418  or  1420  were  manufactured  in 
great  quantities  at  Augsburg,  Nuremberg,  and 
Venice  ;  and  that  the  next  application  of  the  art 
was  devotional.  It  was  used  to  multiply  rude 
figures  of  saints,  which  were  distributed  among  the 
common  people.  The  earliest  wood-cut  known  is  x 
coarse  figure  of  St  Christopher,  dated  1423.  This 
curiosity  exists  in  the  library  of  Earl  Spencer,  at 
Althorpe.  Another  impression,  which  is  declared 
by  connoisseurs  to  be  a  little  later,  is  in  the  Royal 
Library  at  Paris,  where  it  is  framed  and  hung  up 
for  the  inspection  of  the  curious.  Rude,  ill-drawn, 
grotesque,  —  printed  with  some  brownish  fluid,  on 
the  coarsest  ill-colored  paper,  —  still  it  is  impos- 
sible to  look  at  it  without  some  of  the  curiosity, 
interest,  and  reverence,  with  which  we  regard  tin 
first  printed  book,  though  it  must  be  allowed  that, 
in  comparison  with  this  first  sorry  specimen  of  a 


MANTEGNA. 


129 


wood -cut,  the  first  book  was  a  beautiful  perform- 
ance. 

Up  to  a  late  period,  the  origin  of  engraving  on 
copper  was  involved  in  a  like  obscurity,  and  vol- 
umes of  controversy  have  been  written  on  the  sub- 
ject ;  some  claiming  the  invention  for  Germany, 
others  for  Italy.  At  length,  however,  the  indefati- 
gable researches  of  antiquarians  and  connoisseurs, 
aided  by  the  accidental  discovery  in  1794  of  the 
first  impression  from  a  metal  plate,  have  set  the 
matter  at  rest.  If  to  Germany  belongs  the  inven- 
tion of  engraving  on  wood,  the  art  of  copper-plate 
engraving  was  beyond  all  doubt  first  introduced 
and  practised  at  Florence ;  yet  here  again  the  in- 
vention seems  to  have  arisen  out  of  a  combination 
of  accidental  circumstances,  rather  than  to  belong 
of  right  to  one  man.  The  circumstances,  as  well 
as  we  can  trace  them,  were  these  : 

The  goldsmiths  of  Italy,  and  particularly  of  Flor- 
ence, were  famous,  in  the  fifteenth  century,  for 
working  in  Niello.  They  traced  with  a  sharp  point 
or  graver  on  metal  plates,  generally  of  silver,  all 
kinds  of  designs,  sometimes  only  arabesques,  some- 
times single  figures,  sometimes  elaborate  and  com- 
plicated designs  from  sacred  and  profane  history. 
The  ines  thus  cut  or  scratched  were  filled  up  with  a 
black  mass  of  sulphate  of  silver,  so  that  the  design 
traced  appeared  very  distinct,  contrasted  with  the 
white  metal.  In  Italy  the  substance  used  in  filling 
up  the  lines  was  called  from  its  black  color,  in 
9 


130  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


Latin  nigellum,  and  in  Italian  niello.  In  this  man- 
ner church  plate,  as  chalices  and  reliquaries,  also 
dagger-sheaths,  sword-hilts,  clasps,  buttons,  and 
many  other  small  silver  articles,  were  ornamented. 
In  Sir  John  Soane's  Museum  there  is  an  old  MS. 
book,  of  which  the  binding  exhibits  some  beautiful 
specimens  of  niello-work  of  the  fifteenth  century. 
Those  who  practised  the  art  were  called  niellatori. 

According  to  Vasari's  account,  Maso  Finiguerra 
was  a  skilful  goldsmith,  living  in  Florence.  He 
became  celebrated  for  the  artistic  beauty  of  his 
designs  and  workmanship  in  niello.  Finiguerra  is 
said  to  be  the  first  to  whom  it  accidentally  occurred 
to  try  the  effect  of  his  work,  and  preserve  a  memo- 
randum of  his  design  in  the  following  manner : 
Previous  to  filling  up  the  engraved  lines  with  the 
niello,  which  was  a  final  process,  he  applied  to  them 
a  black  fluid  easily  removed,  and  then  laying  a 
piece  of  damp  paper  on  the  plate  or  object,  and 
pressing  or  rubbing  it  forcibly,  the  paper  imbibed 
the  fluid  from  the  tracing,  and  presented  a  fac- 
simile of  the  design,  which  had  the  appearance  of 
being  drawn  with  a  pen.  That  Finiguerra  was  the 
first  or  the  only  worker  in  niello  who  used  this 
method  of  trying  the  effect  of  the  work  is  more  than 
doubtful ;  but  it  is  certain  that  the  earliest  known 
impression  of  a  niello  plate  is  the  impression  from 
a  pax  *  now  existing  in  the  church  of  S.  Giovanni 

*  A  pax,  or  pix,  is  the  name  given  to  the  vessel  in  which  the  con 
secrated  bread  or  wafer  of  the  sacrament  was  deposited.  This  vessel 
was  usually  of  the  richest  workmanship,  often  enriched  with  gems, 


MANTEGNA. 


131 


at  Florence  executed  by  Finiguerra,  and  represent- 
ing the  subject  we  have  often  alluded  to  —  the  Cor- 
onation of  the  Virgin  by  her  Son,  the  Redeemer,  in 
presence  of  Saints  and  Angels.  It  contains  nearly 
thirty  minute  figures,  most  exquisitely  designed. 
This  relic  is  preserved  in  the  Royal  Library  at  Paris, 
where  it  was  discovered  lying  among  some  old 
Italian  engravings  by  the  Abbe  Zani.  The  date  of 
the  work  is  fixed  beyond  all  dispute  ;  for  the  record 
of  the  payment  of  sixty-six  gold  ducats  (thirty-two 
pounds  sterling)  to  Maso  Finiguerra  for  this  iden- 
tical pax  still  exists,  dated  1452.  The  only  existing 
impression  from  it  must  have  been  made  previously, 
perhaps  a  few  weeks  or  months  before.  It  is  now, 
like  the  first  wood-cut,  framed  and  hung  up  in 
the  Royal  Library  at  Paris  for  the  inspection  of  the 
curious. 

Another  method  of  trying  the  effect  of  niello- 
work  before  it  was  quite  completed  was  by  taking 
the  impression  of  the  design,  not  on  paper,  but  on 
sulphur,  of  which  some  curious  and  valuable  speci- 
mens remain.  After  seeing  several  impressions  of 
niello  plates  of  the  fifteenth  century,  we  are  no 
longer  surprised  to  find  skilful  goldsmiths  converted 
into  excellent  painters  and  sculptors.  In  our  own 
time,  this  art,  after  having  been  forgotten  since  the 
eixteenth  century,  when  it  fell  into  disuse,  has  been 
very  successfully  revived  by  Mr.  Wagner,  a  gold- 
smith of  Berlin,  now  residing  at  Paris. 

We  hft-ve  no  evidence  that  it  occurred  to  Maso 


132 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


Finiguerra,  or  any  other  niello- worker,  tc  engrave 
designs  on  plates  of  copper  for  the  express  purpose 
of  making  and  multiplying  impressions  of  them  on 
paper.  The  first  who  did  this  as  a  trade  or  pro- 
fession was  Baccio  Baldini,  who,  about  1467,  em- 
ployed several  painters,  particularly  Sandro  Botti- 
celli and  Filippino  Lippi,  to  make  designs  for  him 
to  engrave.  Andrea  Mantegna  caught  up  the  idea 
with  a  kind  of  enthusiasm.  He  made  the  first  ex- 
periment when  about  sixty,  and,  according  to  Lanzi , 
he  engraved,  during  the  sixteen  remaining  years  oi 
his  life,  not  less  than  fifty  plates.  Of  these  about; 
thirty  are  now  known  to  collectors,  and  considered 
genuine.  Among  them  are  his  own  designs  for  thy 
Triumph  of  Julius  Csesar  (the  fifth,  sixth,  and 
seventh  compartments  only) . 

Familiar  as  we  now  are  with  all  kinds  of  copper 
plate  and  wood  engraving,  there  are  persons  who  do 
not  understand  clearly  the  difference  between  them. 
Independent  of  the  difference  of  the  material  on 
which  they  are  executed,  the  grand  distinction  be- 
tween the  two  arts  is  this  :  that  the  copper-plate 
engraver  cuts  out  the  lines  by  which  the  impression 
is  produced,  which  are  thus  left  hollow,  and  after- 
wards filled  up  with  ink  ;  the  impression  is  produced 
by  laying  a  piece  of  wet  paper  on  the  plate,  and 
passing  them  together  under  a  heavy  and  perfectly 
even  roller.  The  method  of  the  engraver  on  wooct 
is  precisely  the  reverse.  He  cuts  away  all  the  sur- 
rounding surface  of  the  block  of  wood,  and  leaves 


MANTEGNA. 


133 


the  lines  which  are  to  produce  the  impression 
prominent.  They  are  afterwards  blackened  witn 
ink  like  a  stamp,  and  the  impression  taken  with  a 
common  printing-press. 

When  Andrea  Mantegna  made  his  lirst  essays  in 
engraving  on  copper,  he  does  not  seem  to  have  used 
a  press  or  roller.  Perhaps  he  was  unacquainted  with 
that  implement.  At  all  events,  the  early  impres- 
sions of  his  plates  have  evidently  been  taken  by 
merely  laying  the  paper  on  the  copper-plate,  and 
then  rubbing  it  over  with  the  hand  ;  and  they  are 
very  faint  and  spiritless,  compared  with  the  later 
impressions  taken  with  a  press 


COMMENCEMENT  OF  THE  VENETIAN 
SCHOOL. 


THE  BELLINI. 

A.  D.  1421  to  A.  D.  1516. 

Jacopo  Bellini,  the  father,  had  studied  painting 
under  Gentile  da  Fabriano,  of  whom  we  have 
spoken  as  the  scholar,  or  at  least  the  imitator,  of 
the  famous  monk,  Angelico  da  Fiesole.  To  express 
his  gratitude  and  veneration  for  his  instructor, 
Jacopo  gave  the  name  of  Gentile  to  his  eldest  son. 
The  second  and  most  famous  of  the  two  was  chris- 
tened Giovanni  (John)  ;  in  the  Venetian  dialect, 
Gian  Bellini, 

The  sister  of  the  Bellini  being  married  to  Andrea 
Mantegna,  who  exercised  for  forty  years  a  sort  of 
patriarchal  authority  over  all  the  painters  of  north- 
ern Italy,  it  is  singular  that  he  should  have  had  so 
little  influence  over  his  Venetian  relatives.  It  is 
true  the  elder  brother,  Gentile,  had  always  a  certain 
leaning  to  Mantegna 's  school,  and  was  fond  of 
studying  from  a  mutilated  antique  Venus  which  he 
kept  in  his  studio.  But  the  genius  of  his  brother 
Gian  Bellini  was  formed  altogether  by  other  influ- 

(134) 


THE  BELLINI. 


185 


cnces  The  commercial  intercourse  between  Venice 
and  Germany  brought  several  pictures  and  painters 
of  Germany  and  the  Netherlands  into  Venice.  In 
the  island  of  Murano,  at  Venice,  dwelt  a  family 
called  the  Vivarini,  who  had  carried  on  the  art  of 
painting  from  generation  to  generation,  and  who 
had  associated  with  them  some  of  the  early  Flem- 
ings. Thus  it  was  that  the  painters  of  the  first 
Venetian  school  became  familiarized  with  a  style 
of  coloring  more  rich  and  vivid  than  was  practised 
in  any  other  part  of  Italy.  They  were  among  the 
first  who  substituted  oil-painting  for  distemper.  To 
these  advantages  the  elder  Bellini  added  the  knowl- 
edge of  drawing  and  perspective  taught  in  the 
Paduan  school,  and  the  religious  and  spiritual  feel- 
ing which  they  derived  from  the  example  and  in- 
struction of  Gentile  da  Fabriano.  In  these  com- 
bined elements  Gian  Bellini  was  educated,  and 
founded  the  Venetian  school,  afterwards  so  famous 
and  so  prolific  in  great  artists. 

The  two  brothers  were  first  employed  together  in 
an  immense  work,  which  may  be  compared  in  its 
importance  and  its  object  to  the  contemplated  dec- 
oration of  our  houses  of  parliament.  They  were 
commanded  to  paint  the  Ha  J  of  Council  in  the 
palace  of  the  Doge,  with  a  series  of  pictures  repre- 
senting the  principal  events  (partly  legendary  and 
fictitious,  partly  authentic)  of  the  Venetian  wars 
with  the  Emperor  Frederic  Barbarossa  (1177)  ;  the 
combats  and  victories  on  the  Adriatic,  the  recon- 


136 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


ciliation  of  the  Emperor  with  Pope  Alexander  III. 
in  the  Place  of  St.  Mark,  when  Frederic  held  the 
stirrup  of  the  pope's  mule  ;  the  Doge  Ziani  re- 
ceiving from  the  pope  the  gold  ring  with  which  he 
espoused  the  Adriatic  in  token  of  perpetual  domin- 
ion over  it ;  and  other  memorable  scenes  dear  to 
the  pride  and  patriotism  of  the  Venetians. 

These  were  painted  in  fourteen  compartments 
round  the  hall.  What  remains  to  us  of  the  works 
of  the  two  brothers  renders  it  a  subject  of  lasting 
regret  that  these  frescoes,  and  others  still  more 
valuable,  were  destroyed  by  fire  in  1577. 

In  1452  Constantinople  was  taken  by  the  Turks, 
an  event  which  threw  the  whole  of  Christendom 
into  consternation,  not  unmixed  with  shame.  The 
Venetians  were  the  first  to  resume  their  commercial 
relations  with  the  Levant ;  they  sent  an  embassy 
to  the  Turkish  Sultan  to  treat  for  the  redemption 
of  the  Christian  prisoners,  and  negotiate  a  peace. 
This  was  happily  concluded  in  1454,  under  the  aus- 
pices of  the  Doge,  old  Francesco  Foscari.*  It  was 
on  this  occasion  that  the  Sultan  Mohammed  II., 
having  seen  some  Venetian  pictures,  desired  that 
the  Venetian  government  would  send  him  one  of 
their  painters.  The  Council  of  Ten,  after  some  de- 
liberation, selected  for  this  service  Gentile  Bellini, 
who  took  his  departure  accordingly  in  one  of  the 

*  The  story  of  the  two  Foscari  is  the  subject  of  a  tragedy  by  Lord 
Byron.  The  taking  of  Constantinople  is  the  subject  of  one  of  lh9 
most  beautiful  tragedies  of  Joanna  Baillie. 


THE  BELLINI. 


137 


state  galleys,  and  on  arriving  at  Constant!  Loplo 
was  received  with  great  honor.  During  his  resi- 
dence there  he  painted  the  portrait  of  the  Sultan 
and  one  of  his  favorite  sultanas ;  and  he  took  an 
opportunity  of  presenting  to  the  Sultan,  as  a  token 
of  homage  from  himself,  a  picture  of  the  head  of 
John  the  Baptist  after  decapitation.  The  Sultan 
admired  it  much,  but  criticized,  with  the  air  of  a 
connoisseur,  the  appearance  of  the  neck.  He  ob- 
served that  the  shrinking  of  the  severed  nerves  was 
not  properly  expressed.  As  Gentile  Bellini  did  not 
appear  to  feel  the  full  force  of  this  criticism,  the 
Sultan  called  in  one  of  his  slaves,  commanded  the 
wretch  to  kneel  down,  and,  drawing  his  sabre,  cut 
off  his  head  with  a  stroke,  and  thus  gave  the  aston- 
ished and  terrified  painter  a  practical  lesson  in 
anatomy.  It  may  be  easily  believed  that  after  this 
horrible  scene  Gentile  became  uneasy  till  he  had 
obtained  leave  of  departure ;  and  the  Sultan  at 
length  dismissed  him,  with  a  letter  of  strong  recom- 
mendation to  his  own  government,  a  chain  of  gold, 
and  other  rich  presents.  After  his  return  to  Venice 
he  painted  some  remarkable  pictures  ;  among  them 
one  representing  St.  Mark  preaching  at  Alexandria, 
in  which  he  has  painted  the  men  and  women  of 
Alexandria  in  rich  Turkish  costumes,  such  as  he 
had  seen  at  Constantinople.  This  curious  picture 
is  now  in  the  Academy  at  Milan,  and  is  engraved 
in  Rosini's  "  Storia  della  Pittura."  A  portrait  of 
Mohammed  II.,  painted  by  Gentile  Bellini,  is  said 


138  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


to  be  in  England.  All  the  early  engravings  of  the 
grim  Turkish  conqueror  which  now  exist  are  from 
the  portraits  painted  by  Bellini.  He  died  in  1501, 
at  the  age  of  eighty. 

A  much  more  memorable  artist  in  all  respects 
was  his  brother  Gian  Bellini.  His  works  are 
divided  into  two  classes,  —  those  which  he  painted 
before  he  adopted  the  process  of  oil-painting,  and 
those  executed  afterwards.  The  first  have  great 
sweetness  and  elegance  and  purity  of  expression, 
with,  however,  a  certain  timidity  and  dryness  of 
manner  ;  in  the  latter  we  have  a  foretaste  of  the 
rich  Venetian  coloring,  without  any  diminution  of 
the  grave  simple  dignity  and  melancholy  sweetness 
of  expression  which  distinguished  his  earlier  works. 
Between  his  sixty-fifth  and  his  eightieth  year  he 
painted  those  pictures  which  are  considered  as  his 
chefs-d'oeuvre,  and  which  are  now  preserved  in  the 
churches  at  Venice  and  in  the  Gallery  of  the 
Academy  of  Arts  in  that  city. 

It  has  been  said  that  Gian  Bellini  introduced 
himself  disguised  into  the  room  of  Antonella  da 
Messina  when  he  was  painting  at  Venice,  and  stole 
from  him  the  newly-discovered  secret  of  mixing  the 
colors  with  oils  instead  of  water.  It  is  a  consola- 
tion to  think  that  this  story  does  not  rest  on  any 
evidence  worthy  of  credit.  Antonella  had  divulged 
his  secret  to  several  of  his  friends,  particularly  tc 
Domenico  Veneziano,  afterwards  murdered  by  An 
drea  Castagno.    Besides,  the  character  of  Bellini 


THE  BELLINI. 


1S9 


renders  it  unlikely  that  he  would  have  been  guilty 
of  such  a  perfidious  trick. 

Gian  Bellini  is  said  to  have  introduced  at  Venice 
the  fashion  of  portrait-painting.  Before  his  time 
the  likenesses  of  living  persons  had  been  frequently 
painted,  but  they  were  almost  always  introduced 
into  pictures  of  large  subjects.  Portraits,  properly 
so  called,  were  scarcely  known  till  his  time ;  then, 
and  afterwards,  every  noble  Venetian  sat  for  his  pic- 
ture— generally  the  head  only,  or  half-length.  Their 
houses  were  filled  with  family  portraits,  and  it  be- 
came a  custom  to  have  the  effigies  of  their  doges  and 
those  who  distinguished  themselves  in  the  service  of 
their  country  painted  by  order  of  the  state  and  hung 
in  the  ducal  palace,  where  many  of  them  are  still 
to  be  seen.  Up  to  the  latest  period  of  his  life  Gian 
Bellini  had  been  employed  in  painting  for  his  coun- 
trymen only  religious  pictures  or  portraits,  or  sub- 
jects of  Venetian  history  ;  the  classical  taste  which 
had  spread  through  all  the  states  of  Italy  had  not 
yet  penetrated  to  Venice.  But  towards  the  end  of 
his  life,  when  nearly  ninety,  he  was  invited  to  Fer- 
rara  to  paint  in  the  palace  of  the  duke  a  dance  of 
bacchanals.  On  this  occasion  he  made  the  acquaint- 
ance of  Ariosto,  who  mentions  him  with  honor  among 
the  painters  of  his  time  (see  p.  126). 

There  is  at  the  palace  of  Hampton  Court  a  very 
curious  little  head  of  Bellini,  certainly  genuine, 
though  much  injured.  It  is  inscribed  underneath, 
Johanes  Bellini  ipse.    We  have  lately  acquired  foi 


140 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


our  National  Gallery  a  most  curious  and  genuine 
portrait  of  one  of  the  old  doges,  painted  by  Bellini. 
It  is  somewhat  hard  in  the  execution,  but  we  can- 
not look  at  it  without  feeling  that  we  could  swear 
to  the  truth  of  the  resemblance.  In  the  Louvre  at 
Paris  are  three  pictures  ascribed  to  Gian  Bellini. 
One  contains  his  own  portrait  and  that  of  his 
brother  Gentile,  heads  only  ;  the  former  is  dark, 
the  latter  fair  ;  both  wear  a  kind  of  cap  or  beret. 
Another,  about  six  feet  in  length,  represents  the 
reception  of  a  Venetian  ambassador  at  Constanti- 
nople. A  third  is  a  Virgin  and  Child.  The  first- 
mentioned  is  by  Gentile,  and  the  two  last  uncertain. 
In  the  Berlin  Museum  are  seven  pictures  by  him, 
all  considered  genuine,  and  all  are  painted  on  panel 
and  in  oils.  They  belong,  therefore,  to  his  latest 
and  best  period. 

Gian  Bellini  died  in  1516.  He  had  formed  many 
disciples,  and  among  them  two  whose  glory  in  these 
later  times  had  almost  eclipsed  that  of  their  great 
teacher  and  precursor  —  Giorgione  and  Titian. 
Another,  far  less  famous,  but  of  whom  some  beau- 
tiful pictures  still  exist  at  Venice,  was  Cima  da 
Cornegliano. 


IHE  UMBRIAN  SCHOOL 


PIETRO  PERUGINO. 

Born  1446,  died  1524. 

The  fame  of  Perugino  rests  more  on  his  having 
been  the  master  and  instructor  of  Raphael,  than  on 
his  own  works  or  worth.  Yet  he  was  a  great  and 
remarkable  man  in  his  own  day  :  interesting  in 
ours  as  the  representative  of  a  certain  school  of  art 
immediately  preceding  that  of  Raphael.  Francesco 
Francia  has  left  behind  him  a  name  perhaps  less 
known  and  celebrated,  but  far  more  revered. 

The  territory  of  Umbria  in  Italy  comprises  that 
mountainous  region  of  the  Ecclesiastical  States  now 
called  the  Duchy  of  Spoleto.  Perugia,  Foligno, 
Assisi,  and  Spoleto,  were  among  its  principal  towns ; 
and  the  whole  country,  with  its  retired  valleys  and 
isolated  cities,  was  distinguished  in  the  middle  ages 
as  the  peculiar  seat  of  religious  enthusiasm.  It  was 
here  that  St.  Francis  of  Assisi  preached  and  prayed, 
and  gathered  around  him  his  fervid,  self-denying 
votaries.  Art,  as  usual,  reflected  the  habits  and 
feelings  of  the  people  ;  and  here  Gentile  da  Fabriano, 
the  beloved  friend  of  Angelico  da  Fiesole,  exercised 

(141> 


L42 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


a  particular  influence.    No  less  than  thirteen  ol 

fourteen  Umbrian  painters,  who  flourished  between 
the  time  of  Gentile  and  that  of  Raphael,  are  men- 
tioned in  Passavant's  "  Life  of  Raphael."  This 
mystical  and  spiritual  direction  of  art  extended 
itself  to  Bologna,  and  found  a  worthy  interpreter 
in  Francesco  Francia.  We  shall,  however,  speak 
first  of  Perugino. 

Pietro  Vannucci  was  born  at  a  little  town  in  Um- 
bria,  called  Citta  della  Pieve,  and  he  was  known 
for  the  first  thirty  years  of  his  life  as  Pietro  della 
Pieve  ;  after  he  had  settled  at  Perugia,  and  had 
obtained  there  the  rights  of  citizenship,  he  was 
called  Pietro  di  Perugia,  or  II  Perugino,  by  which 
name  he  is  best  known. 

We  know  little  of  the  early  life  and  education  of 
Perugino  ;  his  parents  were  respectable,  but  poor. 
His  first  instructor  is  supposed  to  have  been  Nicolo 
Alunno.  At  this  time  (about  1470)  Florence  was 
considered  as  the  head-quarters  of  art  and  artists  ; 
and  the  young  painter,  at  the  age  of  five-and-twenty, 
undertook  a  journey  to  Florence,  as  the  most  certain 
path  to  excellence  and  fame. 

Vasari  tells  us  that  Pietro  was  excited  to  industry 
by  being  constantly  told  of  the  great  rewards  and 
honors  which  the  professors  of  painting  had  earned 
in  ancient  and  in  modern  times,  and  also  by  the 
pressure  of  poverty.  He  left  Perugia  in  a  state  of 
absolute  want,  and  reached  Florence,  where  he  pur* 
sued  his  studies  for  many  months  with  unwearied 


PERUGINO. 


143 


diligence,  but  so  poor  meanwhile  that  he  had  not 
even  a  bed  to  sleep  on.  He  studied  in  the  chapel  of 
Masaccio  in  the  Carmine,  which  has  been  already 
mentioned  ;  received  some  instruction  in  drawing 
and  modelling  from  Andrea  Verrocchio  ;  and  was 
a  friend  and  fellow-pupil  of  Lionardo  da  Vinci. 
They  are  thus  mentioned  together  in  a  contempo- 
rary poem  written  by  Giovanni  Santi,  the  father 
Oi.  the  great  Raphael : 

"  Due  giovin  par  d'  etate  e  par  d'  amori, 
Lionardo  da  Vinci  e  '1  Perusino 
Pier  della  Pieve,  che  son  divin  Pitton.*' 

That  is, 

"  Two  youths,  equal  in  years,  equal  in  affection, 
Lionardo  da  Vinci  and  the  Perugian 
Peter  della  Pieve,  both  divine  painters." 

But,  though  "  par  d'  etate  e  par  d'  amori,"  they 
certainly  were  not  equal  in  gifts.  Perugino  dwin- 
dles into  insignificance  when  we  think  of  the  tri- 
umphant and  universal  powers  of  Lionardo.  But 
this  is  anticipating. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  Perugino  possessed 
genius  and  feeling,  but  confined  and  shadowed  by 
certain  moral  defects  ;  it  was  as  if  the  brightness 
of  his  genius  kept  up  a  continual  struggle  with  the 
meanness  of  his  soul,  to  be  in  the  end  overpowered 
and  held  down  by  the  growing  weakness  and  debase- 
ment. Yet  when  young  in  his  art  a  pure  and  gentle 
feeliug  guided  his  pencil ;  and  in  the  desire  to  learn, 


J  44  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 

in  tne  fixed  determination  to  improve  and  to  excel, 
his  calm  sense  and  his  calculating  spirit  stood  him 
in  good  stead.  There  was  a  famous  convent  near 
Florence,  in  which  the  monks  —  not  lazy  nor  igno- 
rant, as  monks  are  usually  described  —  carried  on 
several  arts  successfully,  particularly  the  art  of 
painting  on  glass.  Perugino  was  employed  to  paint 
some  frescoes  in  their  convent,  and  also  to  make 
designs  for  the  glass-painters.  In  return,  he  learned 
how  to  prepare  and  to  apply  many  colors  not  yet  in 
general  use ;  and  the  lucid  and  vigorous  tints  to 
which  his  eye  became  accustomed  in  their  workshop 
certainly  influenced  his  style  of  coloring.  He  grad- 
ually rose  in  estimation  ;  painted  a  vast  number  of 
pictures  and  frescoes  for  the  churches  and  chapel « 
of  Florence,  and  particularly  an  altar-piece  of  great 
beauty  for  the  famous  convent  of  Vallombrosa.  In 
this  he  represented  the  Assumption  of  the  Virgin, 
who  is  soaring  to  heaven  in  the  midst  of  a  choir  of 
angels,  while  the  twelve  Apostles  beneath  look  up- 
wards with  adoration  and  astonishment.  This  ex- 
cellent picture  is  preserved  in  the  Academy  of  tha 
Fine  Arts  at  Florence,  and  near  it  is  the  portrait 
of  the  Abbot  of  Vallombrosa  by  whose  order  it  was 
painted.  Ten  years  after  Perugino  had  first  entered 
Florence  a  poor,  nameless  youth,  he  was  called  to 
Rome  by  Pope  Sixtus  IV.  to  assist  with  most  of  the 
distinguished  painters  of  that  time  in  painting  thi 
famous  SiftJT  ■»  Chapel.  All  the  frescoes  of  Peru 
gino  except  *  wo  were  afterwards  effaced  to  mako 


PERUGINO. 


145 


room  for  Michael  Angelo's  Last  Judgment.  Those 
which  remain  show  that  the  style  of  Perugino  at 
this  time  was  decidedly  Florentine,  and  quite  dis- 
tinct from  his  earlier  and  later  works.  They  repre- 
sent the  Baptism  of  Christ  in  the  River  Jordan,  and 
Christ  delivering  the  Keys  to  St.  Peter.  While  at 
Rome  he  also  painted  a  room  in  the  palace  of  Prince 
Colonna.  When  he  returned  to  Perugia  he  resumed 
the  feeling  and  manner  of  his  earlier  years,  combined 
with  better  drawing  and  coloring,  and  his  best  pic- 
tures were  painted  between  1490  and  1502.  His 
principal  work,  however,  was  the  hall  of  the  Col- 
lege del  Cambio  (that  is,  Hall  of  Exchange)  at  Pe- 
rugia, most  richly  and  elaborately  painted  with 
frescoes,  which  still  exist.  The  personages  intro- 
duced exhibit  a  strange  mixture  of  the  sacred  and 
profane.  John  the  Baptist  and  other  saints,  Isaiah, 
Moses,  Daniel,  David,  and  other  prophets,  are  fig- 
ured on  the  walls  with  Fabius  Maximus,  Socrates, 
Pythagoras,  Pericles,  Horatius  Codes,  and  other 
Greek  and  Roman  worthies.  Other  pictures  painted 
in  Perugia  are  remarkable  for  the  simplicity,  grace, 
and  dignity,  of  his  Virgins,  the  infantine  sweetness 
of  the  children  and  cherubs,  and  the  earnest,  ardent 
expression  in  the  heads  of  his  saints. 

Perugino,  in  the  very  beginning  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  was  certainly  the  most  popular  painter  of 
his  time;  a  circumstance  which,  considering  that 
Raphael,  Francia,  and  Lionardo  da  Vinci,  were  all 
working  at  the  same  time,  would  surprise  us,  did 
10 


146 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


we  not  know  that  contemporary  popularity  is  uot 
generally  the  recompense  of  the  most  distinguished 
genius.  In  fact,  Perugino  has  produced  some  of 
the  weakest  and  worst,  as  well  as  some  of  the  most 
exquisite  pictures  in  the  world.  He  undertook  an 
immense  number  of  works,  and  employed  his  schol« 
ars  and  assistants  to  execute  them  from  his  designs. 
A  passion,  of  which  perhaps  the  seeds  were  sown 
in  his  early  days  of  poverty  and  misery,  had  taken 
possession  of  his  soul.  He  was  no  longer  excited  to 
labor  by  a  spirit  of  piety  or  the  generous  ambition 
to  excel,  but  by  a  base  and  insatiable  thirst  for 
gain.  All  his  late  pictures,  from  the  year  1505  to 
his  death,  betray  the  influence  of  this  mean  passion. 
He  aimed  at  nothing  beyond  mechanical  dexterity, 
and  to  earn  his  money  with  as  little  expense  of  time 
and  trouble  as  possible  ;  he  became  more  and  more 
feeble,  mannered,  and  monotonous,  continually  re- 
peating the  same  figures,  actions,  and  heads,  till 
his  very  admirers  were  wearied  ;  and  on  his  last 
visit  to  Florence,  Michael  Angelo,  who  had  never 
done  him  justice,  pronounced  him,  with  contempt, 
"Goffo  nelV  arte"  that  is,  a  mere  bungler;  for 
which  affront  Pietro  summoned  him  before  the 
magistrates,  but  came  off  with  little  honor.  He 
was  no  longer  what  he  had  been.  Such  was  his 
love  of  money,  or  such  his  mistrust  of  his  family, 
that  when  moving  from  place  to  place  he  carried 
his  beloved  gold  with  him  ;  and  being  on  one  occa- 
sion robbed  of  a  large  sum,  he  fell  ill,  and  was  like 


PERUGINO. 


147 


to  die  of  grief.  It  seems,  however,  hardly  consist- 
ent with  the  mean  and  avaricious  spirit  imputed  to 
him,  that,  having  married  a  beautiful  girl  of  Peru- 
gia, he  took  great  delight  in  seeing  her  arrayed,  at 
home  and  abroad,  in  the  most  costly  garments,  and 
sometimes  dressed  her  with  his  own  hands.  To  the 
reproach  of  avarice  —  too  well  founded — some  writ- 
ers have  added  that  of  irreligion  ;  nay,  two  centu- 
ries after  his  death  they  showed  the  spot  where  he 
was  buried  in  unconsecrated  ground  under  a  few 
trees,  near  Fontignano,  he  having  refused  to  receive 
the  last  sacraments.  This  accusation  has  been  re- 
futed ;  and  in  truth  there  is  such  a  divine  beauty 
in  some  of  the  best  pictures  of  Perugino,  such  ex- 
quisite purity  and  tenderness  in  his  Madonnas,  such 
an  expression  of  enthusiastic  faith  and  devotion  in 
some  of  the  heads,  that  it  would  be  painful  to  be- 
lieve that  there  was  no  corresponding  feeling  in  his 
heart.  In  one  or  two  of  his  pictures  he  had  reached 
a  degree  of  sublimity  worthy  of  him  who  was  the 
master  of  Raphael,  but  the  instances  are  few. 

In  our  National  Gallery  there  is  a  little  Madonna 
and  Child  by  Perugino.  The  Virgin  is  seen  half- 
length,  holding  the  infant  Christ,  who  is  standing  in 
front  and  grasps  in  his  little  hand  one  of  the  tresses 
of  her  long,  fair  hair ;  the  young  St.  John  is  seen 
half-length  on  the  left,  looking  up  with  joined 
hands.  It  is  an  early  picture,  painted  before  his 
first  residence  at  Florence  and  before  he  had  made 
his  first  essays  in  oil.    It  is  very  feeble  and  finical 


148  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


in  the  execution,  but  very  sweet  and  simple  in  the 
expression. 

In  the  Louvre  at  Paris  there  is  a  curious  allegor- 
ical picture  by  Perugino,  representing  the  Combat 
of  Love  and  Chastity  ;  many  figures  in  a  landscape 
It  seems  a  late  production  —  feeble  and  tasteless  ; 
and  the  subject  is  precisely  one  least  adapted  to  the 
painter's  style  and  powers. 

In  almost  every  collection  on  the  continent  there 
are  works  of  Perugino,  for  he  was  so  popular  in  his 
lifetime  that  his  pictures  were  as  merchandise,  and 
sold  all  over  Italy. 

Pietro  Perugino  died  in  1524.  He  survived 
Raphael  four  years  ;  and  he  may  be  said,  during 
the  last  twenty-five  years  of  his  life,  to  have  sur- 
vived himself. 

His  scholars  were  very  numerous,  but  the  fame 
of  all  the  rest  is  swallowed  up  in  that  of  his  great 
disciple  Raphael.  Bernardino  di  Perugia,  called 
Pinturicchio,  was  rather  an  assistant  than  a  pupil. 
He  has  left  some  excellent  works. 


FRANCESCO  RAIBOLINI,  called  IL 
FRANCIA. 

Born  1450,  died  1517. 

There  existed  throughout  the  fourteenth  and  fif- 
teenth centuries  a  succession  of  painters  in  Bologna, 
known  in  the  history  of  Italian  art  as  the  early  Bo- 
lognese  school,  to  distinguish  it  from  the  later  school, 
which  the  Carracci  founded  in  the  same  city  —  a 
school  altogether  dissimilar  in  spirit  and  feeling. 
The  chief  characteristic  of  the  former  was  the  fer- 
vent piety  and  devotion  of  its  professors.  In  the 
sentiment  of  their  works  they  resembled  the  Umbri- 
an  school,  but  the  manner  of  execution  is  different. 
One  of  these  early  painters,  Lippo  (or  Filippo)  di 
Dalmasio,  was  so  celebrated  for  the  beauty  of  his 
Madonnas,  that  he  obtained  the  name  of  Lippo 
dalle  Madonne.  He  greatly  resembled  the  Frate 
Angelico  in  life  and  character,  but  was  inferior  as 
an  artist.  To  his  heads  of  the  Virgin  he  gave  an 
expression  of  saintly  beauty,  purity,  and  tender- 
ness, which  two  hundred  years  later  excited  the 
admiration  and  emulation  of  Guido.  Lippo  died 
about  1409.  Passing  over  some  other  names,  we 
come  to  that  of  the  greatest  painter  of  the  early 
Bologna  school,  Francesco  Raibolini. 

(149) 


loO  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS, 

He  was  born  in  1450  ;  being  just  four  years 
younger  than  his  contemporary  Perugino.  Like 
many  other  painters  of  that  age,  already  mentioned, 
he  was  educated  for  a  goldsmith,  and  learned  to 
design  and  model  correctly.  Francesco's  master 
in  the  arts  of  working  in  gold  and  niello  #  was  a 
certain  Francia,  whose  name,  in  affectionate  grati- 
tude to  his  memory,  he  afterwards  adopted,  signed 
it  on  his  pictures,  and  is  better  known  by  it  than 
by  his  own  family  name.  Up  to  the  age  of  forty, 
Francesco  Francia  pursued  his  avocation  of  gold- 
smith, and  became  celebrated  for  the  excellence  of 
his  workmanship  in  chasing  gold  and  silver,  and 
the  exquisite  beauty  and  taste  of  his  niellos.  He 
also  excelled  in  engraving  dies  for  coins  and  medals, 
and  was  appointed  superintendent  of  the  mint  in 
his  native  city  of  Bologna,  which  office  he  held  till 
his  death. 

We  are  not  told  how  the  attention  of  Francia  was 
first  directed  to  the  art  of  painting.  It  is  said  that 
the  sight  of  a  beautiful  picture  by  Perugino  awak- 
ened the  dormant  talent ;  that  he  learned  drawing 
from  Marco  Zoppo,  one  of  the  numerous  pupils  of 
Squarcione,  and  that  for  many  months  he  enter- 
tained in  his  house  certain  artists  who  initiated  him 
into  the  use  of  colors,  &c.  However  this  may  be, 
his  earliest  picture  is  dated  1490,  when  he  was  in 
his  fortieth  year.   It  exists  at  present  in  the  gallery 

*  For  an  account  of  the  art  of  working  in  niello,  and  the  invention 
to  which  it  led,  see  p.  129. 


IL  FRANCIA. 


151 


at  Bologna,  and  represents  his  favorite  subject,  so 
often  repeated,  a  Madonna  and  Child,  enthroned 
and  surrounded  by  saints  and  martyrs.  This  pic- 
ture, which,  if  it  be  a  first  production,  may  well 
be  termed  wonderful  as  well  as  beautiful,  excited 
so  much  admiration,  that  Giovanni  Bentivoglio, 
then  lord  of  Bologna,  desired  him  to  paint  an  altar- 
piece  for  his  family  chapel  in  the  church  of  San 
Giacomo.  This  second  essay  of  his  powers  excited 
in  the  strongest  degree  the  enthusiasm  of  his  fellow- 
citizens.  The  people  of  Bologna  were  distinguished 
among  the  other  states  of  Italy  for  their  patronage 
of  native  talent ;  they  now  exulted  in  having  pro- 
duced an  artist  who  might  vie  with  those  of  Flor- 
ence, or  Perugia,  or  Venice. 

The  vocation  of  Francia  was  henceforth  deter- 
mined. He  abandoned  his  former  employment  of 
goldsmith  and  niello-worker,  and  became  a  painter 
by  choice  and  by  profession.  During  the  next  ten 
years  he  improved  progressively  in  composition  and 
in  color,  still  retaining  the  simple  and  beautiful 
sentiment  which  had  from  the  first  distinguished 
his  works.  His  earliest  pictures  are  in  oil ;  but 
his  success  encouraged  him  to  attempt  fresco,  and 
in  this  style,  which  required  a  grandeur  of  concep- 
tion and  a  breadth  and  rapidity  of  execution  for 
which  his  laborious  and  diminutive  works  in  gold 
and  niello  could  never  have  prepared  his  mind  or 
nand,  he  appears  to  have  succeeded  at  once.  He 
was  first  employed  by  Bentivoglio  to  decorate  one 


JLD2 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


of  the  chambers  in  his  palace  with  the  story  of 
Judith  and  Holofernes ;  and  he  afterwards  executed 
in  the  chapel  of  St.  Cecilia  a  series  of  frescoes  from 
the  legend  of  that  saint.  "  The  composition, " 
says  Kugler,  "  is  extremely  simple,  without  any 
superfluous  figures ;  the  action  dramatic  and  well 
conceived.  We  have  here  the  most  noble  figures, 
the  most  beautiful  and  graceful  heads,  a  pure  taste 
in  the  drapery,  and  masterly  backgrounds."  It 
should  seem  that  the  merits  here  enumerated  in- 
clude all  that  constitutes  perfection.  Unhappily; 
these  fine  specimens  of  Francia 's  art  are  falling  into 
ruin  and  decay. 

The  style  of  Francia  at  his  best  period  is  very 
distinct  from  that  of  Perugino,  whom  he  resembles, 
however,  so  far  as  to  show  that  the  pictures  of  the 
latter  were  the  first  objects  of  his  emulation  and 
imitation.  In  the  works  of  Perugino  there  is  a 
melancholy  verging  frequently  on  sourness  and 
harshness,  or  fading  into  insipidity.  Francia,  in 
his  richer  and  deeper  coloring,  his  ampler  forms, 
and  the  cheerful,  hopeful,  affectionate  expression  in 
his  heads,  reminds  us  of  the  Venetian  school. 

His  celebrity  in  a  short  period  had  extended 
through  the  whole  of  Lombardy.  Not  only  his 
native  city,  but  Parma,  Modena,  Cesena,  and  Fer- 
rara,  were  emulous  to  possess  his  works.  Even 
Tuscany,  so  rich  in  painters  of  her  own,  had 
heard  of  Francia.  The  beautiful  altar-piece  which 
has  enriched  our  National  Gallery  since  the  year 


IL  ERANCTA. 


153 


1841  was  painted  at  the  desire  of  a  nobleman  of 
Lucca. 

This  altar-piece  is  composed  of  two  separate  pic- 
tures. The  larger  compartment  contains  eight 
figures  rather  less  than  life.  In  the  centre  on  a 
raised  throne  are  seated  the  Virgin  and  her  mother 
St.  Anne.  The  Virgin  is  attired  in  a  red  tunic,  and 
a  dark  blue  mantle,  which  is  drawn  over  the  head. 
She  holds  in  her  lap  the  Infant  Christ,  to  whom  St. 
Anne  is  presenting  a  peach.  The  expression  of  the 
"Virgin  is  exceedingly  pure,  calm,  and  saintly,  yet 
without  the  seraph-like  refinement  which  we  see  in 
some  of  Raphael's  Madonnas.  The  head  of  the  aged 
St.  Anne  is  simply  dignified  and  maternal.  At  the 
fbot  of  the  throne  stands  the  little  St.  John,  hold- 
ing in  his  arms  the  cross  of  reeds  and  the  scroll 
inscribed  "  Ecce  Agnus  Dei  "  (Behold  the  Lamb  of 
God!)  On  each  side  of  the  throne  are  two  saints. 
To  the  right  of  the  Virgin  stands  St.  Paul,  holding 
a  sword,  the  instrument  of  his  martyrdom  ;  and  St. 
Sebastian  bound  to  a  pillar  and  pierced  with  arrows. 
On  the  left,  St.  Lawrence  with  the  emblematical 
gridiron  and  palm-branch,  and  another  saint,  prob- 
ably St.  Frediano.  The  heads  of  these  saints  want* 
elevation  of  form,  the  brow  in  all  being  rather  low 
and  narrow  ;  but  the  prevailing  expression  is  simple, 
affectionate,  devout,  full  of  faith  and  hope.  The 
background  is  formed  of  two  open  arches  adorned 
with  sculpture,  the  blue  sky  beyond  ;  and  lower 
down,  between  St.  Paul  and  St.  Sebastian,  is  seen 


154 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


a  glimpse  of  a  beautiful  landscape.  The  draperies 
are  grand  and  ample  ;  the  coloring,  rich  and  warm  ; 
the  execution,  most  finished  in  every  part.  On  the 
cornice  of  the  raised  throne,  or  pedestal,  is  inscribed 
Francia  aurifex  Bononiensis  P.  (that  is,  painted 
by  Francia,  goldsmith  of  Bologna),  but  no  date 
It  measures  six  feet  and  a  half  high  by  six  feet  wide. 

Over  this  square  picture  was  placed  the  lunette, 
or  arch,  which  now  hangs  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  room.  It  represents  the  subject  called  in  Italian 
a  Pieta,  —  the  Dead  Redeemer  supported  on  the 
knees  of  the  Virgin  mother.  An  angel  clothed  in 
green  drapery  supports  the  drooping  head  of  the 
Saviour.  Another  angel  in  red  drapery  kneels  at 
his  feet.  Grief  in  the  face  of  the  sorrowing  mother 
—  in  the  countenances  of  the  angels  reverential 
sorrow  and  pity  — are  most  admirably  expressed. 

This  altar-piece  was  painted  by  Francia  about 
the  year  1500,  for  the  Marchesa  Buonvisi  of  Lucca, 
and  placed  in  the  chapel  of  the  Buonvisi  family,  in 
the  church  of  San  Frediano.  It  remained  there  till 
lately  purchased  by  the  Duke  of  Lucca,  who  sent  it 
with  other  pictures  to  be  disposed  of  in  England, 
The  two  pieces  were  valued  at  four  thousand 
pounds ;  after  some  negotiation,  our  government 
obtained  them  for  the  National  Gallery  at  the 
price  of  three  thousand  five  hundred  pounds. 

The  works  of  Francia  were,  until  lately,  confined 
to  the  churches  of  Bologna  and  other  cities  of 
Lombardy  ;  now  they  are  to  be  found  in  all  the 


IL  FRANCIA. 


155 


great  collections  of  Europe,  that  of  the  Louvre  ex- 
cepted, which  does  not  contain  a  single  specimen. 
The  Bologna  Gallery  contains  six,  the  Berlin  Mu- 
seum three,  of  his  pictures.*  In  the  Florentine 
Gallery  is  an  admirable  portrait  of  a  man  holding 
a  letter  in  his  hand.  In  the  Imperial  Gallery  at 
Vienna  there  is  a  most  exquisite  altar-piece,  the 
same  size  and  style  as  the  one  in  the  National 
Gallery,  but  still  more  beautiful  and  poetical.  The 
Virgin  and  Child  are  seated  on  the  throne  in  the 
midst  of  a  charming  landscape  ;  St.  Francis  stand- 
ing on  one  side,  and  St.  Catherine  on  the  other. 
The  Gallery  at  Munich  contains  a  picture  by  him 
perhaps  the  most  charming  he  ever  painted.  It 
represents  the  Infant  Saviour  lying  on  the  grass 
amid  roses  and  flowers ;  the  Virgin  stands  before 
him,  looking  down  with  clasped  hands,  and  in  an 
ecstasy  of  love  and  devotion,  on  her  divine  Son. 
The  figures  are  rather  less  that  life.  A  small  but 
very  beautiful  picture  by  Francia,  a  Madonna  and 
Child,  is  now  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Frankland 
Lewis. 

It  is  pleasant  to  be  assured  that  the  life  and  char- 
acter of  Francia  were  in  harmony  with  his  genius. 
Vasari  describes  him  as  a  man  of  comely  aspect,  of 
exemplary  morals,  of  amiable  and  cheerful  man- 
ners ;  in  conversation  so  witty,  so  wise,  and  so 
agreeable,  that  in  discourse  with  him  the  saddest 

*  One  of  these  (No.  253)  is  a  repetition  of  the  Pieta  in  oul 
National  Gallery. 


156 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


man  would  have  felt  his  melancholy  dissipated,  hk 
cares  forgotten  ;  adding  that  he  was  loved  and  ven 
erated  not  only  by  his  family  and  fellow-citizens, 
but  by  strangers  and  the  princes  in  whose  service 
he  was  employed.  A  most  interesting  circumstance 
in  the  life  of  Francia  was  his  friendship  and  corres- 
pondence with  the  youthful  Raphael,  who  was 
thirty-four  years  younger  than  himself.  There  is 
extant  a  letter  which  Raphael  addressed  to  Francia 
in  the  year  1508.  In  this  letter,  which  is  expressed 
with  exceeding  kindness  and  deference,  Raphael 
excuses  himself  for  not  having  painted  his  own 
portrait  for  his  friend,  and  promises  to  send  it  soon. 
He  presents  him  with  his  design  for  the  Nativity, 
and  requests  to  have  in  return  Francia ?s  design  for 
the  Judith,*  to  be  placed  among  his  most  precious 
treasures ;  he  alludes,  but  discreetly,  to  the  grief 
which  Francia  must  have  felt  when  his  patron 
Bentivoglio  was  exiled  from  Bologna  by  Pope 
Julius  II.,  and  he  concludes,  affectionately,  "  Con- 
tinue to  love  me  as  I  love  you,  with  all  my  heart." 
Raphael  afterwards,  according  to  his  promise,  sent 
his  portrait  to  his  friend,  and  Francia  addressed 
to  him  a  very  pretty  sonnet,  in  which  he  styles 
him,  as  if  prophetically,  the  "  painter  above  all 
painters :  " 

"  Tu  solo  il  Pittor  sei  de'  Pittori." 

About  the  year  1516  Raphael  sent  to  Bologna 

*  This  drawing  is  said  to  exist  in  the  collection  of  the  Archduke 
Charles,  at  Vienna.   See  Passavant. 


IL  FRANCIA. 


157 


his  famous  picture  of  the  St.  Cecilia,  surrounded 
by  other  Saints,  which  had  been  commanded  by  a 
lady  of  the  house  of  Bentivoglio,  to  decorate  the 
jhurch  of  St.  Cecilia,  the  same  church  in  which 
Francia  had  painted  the  frescoes  already  mentioned. 
Raphael,  in  a  modest  and  affectionate  letter,  rec- 
ommended the  picture  to  the  care  of  his  friend 
Francia,  entreating  him  to  be  present  when  the 
case  was  opened,  to  repair  any  injury  it  might  have 
received  in  the  carriage,  and  to  correct  anything 
which  seemed  to  him  faulty  in  the  execution. 
Francia  zealously  fulfilled  his  wishes  ;  and  when  he 
beheld  this  masterpiece  of  the  divinest  of  painters, 
burst  into  transports  of  admiration  and  delight, 
placing  it  far  above  all  that  he  had  himself  accom- 
plished. As  he  died  a  short  time  afterwards,  it 
was  said  that  he  had  sickened  of  envy  and  despair 
on  seeing  himself  thus  excelled,  and  in  his  native 
city  his  best  works  eclipsed  by  a  young  rival. 
Vasari  tells  this  story  as  a  tradition  of  his  own 
time  ;  his  expression  is  "  come  alcuni  credono  "  (as 
some  believe)  ;  but  it  rests  on  no  other  evidence, 
and  is  so  contrary  to  all  we.  know  of  the  gentle  and 
generous  spirit  of  Francia,  and  so  inconsistent  with 
the  sentiments  which  for  many  years  he  had  cher- 
ished and  avowed  for  Raphael,  that  we  may  set  it 
aside  as  unworthy  of  all  belief.  The  date  of 
Francia's  death  has  been  a  matter  of  dispute  ;  but 
it  appears  certain,  from  state  documents  lately  dis- 
covered at  Bologna,  that  he  died  Master  of  the  Mint 


158 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS 


in  that  city,  on  the  6th  of  January,  1517,  being 
then  in  his  sixty-eighth  year.  His  son  Giacomo 
became  an  esteemed  painter  in  his  father's  style. 
In  the  Berlin  Gallery  there  are  six  pictures  by  his 
hand  ;  and  one  by  Giulio  Francia,  a  cousin  and 
pupil  of  the  elder  Francia, 


FRA   BARTOLOMEO,    called  also  BACCIO 
DELLA  PORTA  and  IL  FRATE. 


Born  1469,  died  1517. 

Before  we  enter  on  the  golden  age  of  painting, 
—  that  splendid  era  which  crowded  into  a  brief 
quarter  of  a  century  (between  1505  and  1530)  the 
greatest  names  and  most  consummate  productions 
of  the  art,  —  we  must  speak  of  one  more  painter, 
justly  celebrated.  Perugino  and  Francia  (of  whom 
we  have  spoken  at  length)  and  Fra  Bartolomeo, 
jf  whom  we  are  now  to  speak,  were  still  living  at 
this  period  ;  but  they  belonged  to  a  previous  age, 
and  were  informed,  as  we  shall  show,  by  a  wholly 
different  spirit.  They  contributed  in  some  degree 
to  the  perfection  of  their  great  contemporaries  and 
successors,  but  they  owed  the  sentiment  which  in- 
spired their  own  works  to  influences  quite  distinct 
from  those  which  prevailed  during  the  next  half- 
century.  The  last  of  these  elder  painters  of  the 
first  Italian  school  was  Fra  Bartolomeo. 

He  was  born  in  the  little  town  of  Savignano,  in 
the  territory  of  Prato,  near  Florence.  Of  his  family 
little  is  known,  and  of  his  younger  years  nothing, 
but  that,  having  shown  a  disposition  to  the  art  of 

(159) 


160 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


design,  he  was  placed  under  the  tuition  of  Cosimc 
Roselli,  a  very  good  Florentine  painter  ,  and  that 
while  receiving  his  instructions  he  resided  with 
some  relations  who  dwelt  near  one  of  the  gates  of 
the  city  (La  Porta  San  Piero).  Hence,  for  the  first 
thirty  years  of  his  life,  he  was  known  among  his 
companions  by  the  name  of  Baccio  della  Porta  ; 
Baccio  being  the  Tuscan  diminutive  of  Bartolomeo. 
While  studying  in  the  atelier  of  Cosimo  Roselli, 
Baccio  formed  a  friendship  with  Mariotto  Alberti- 
nelli,  a  young  painter  about  his  own  age.  It  was 
on  both  sides  an  attachment  almost  fraternal. 
They  painted  together,  sometimes  on  the  same  pic- 
ture, and  in  style  and  sentiment  were  so  similai 
that  it  has  become  difficult  to  distinguish  theii 
works.  Baccio  was,  however,  more  particularly 
distinguished  by  his  feeling  for  softness  and  har 
mony  of  color,  and  the  tender  and  devout  ex 
pression  of  his  religious  pictures.  From  his  earli- 
est years  he  appears  to  have  been  a  religious  en thu 
siast ;  and  this  turn  of  mind  not  only  characterized 
all  the  productions  of  his  pencil,  but  involved  him 
in  a  singular  manner  with  some  of  the  most  remark- 
able events  and  characters  of  his  time. 

Lorenzo  de'  Medici,  called  Lorenzo  the  Mag- 
nificent, was  then  master  of  the  liberties  of  Flor- 
ence. The  revival  of  classical  learning,  the  study 
of  the  antique  sculptures  (diffused,  as  we  have  re- 
lated, by  the  school  of  Padua,  and  rendered  still 
more  a  fashion  by  the  influence  and  popularity  of 


FRA  BARTOLOMEO. 


161 


Andrea  Mantegna,  already  old,  and  Michael  An- 
gelo,  then  a  young  man),  was  rapidly  corrupting 
the  simple  and  pious  taste  which  had  hitherto  pre- 
vailed in  art,  even  while  imparting  to  it  a  more 
universal  direction,  and  a  finer  feeling  for  beauty 
and  sublimity  in  the  abstract.  At  the  same  time, 
and  encouraged  for  their  own  purposes  by  the 
Medici  family,  there  prevailed  with  this  pagan 
taste  in  literature  and  art  a  general  laxity  of 
morals,  a  license  of  conduct,  and  a  disregard  of  all 
sacred  things,  such  as  had  never,  even  in  the  dark- 
est ages  of  barbarism,  been  known  in  Italy.  The 
papal  chair  was  during  that  period  filled  by  two 
popes,  the  perfidious  and  cruel  Sixtus  IV.,  and  the 
yet  more  detestable  Alexander  VI.  (the  infamous 
Borgia).  Florence,  meantime,  under  the  sway  of 
Lorenzo  and  his  sons,  became  one  of  the  most 
magnificent,  but  also  one  of  the  most  dissolute  of 
cities. 

The  natural  taste  and  character  of  Bartolomeo 
placed  him  far  from  this  luxurious  and  licentious 
court ;  but  he  had  acquired  great  reputation  by 
the  exquisite  beauty  and  tenderness  of  his  Madon- 
nas, and  he  was  employed  by  the  Dominicans  of 
the  convent  of  St.  Mark  to  paint  a  fresco  in  their 
church  representing  the  Last  Judgment.  At  this 
time  Savonarola,  an  eloquent  friar  in  the  convent, 
was  preaching  against  the  disorders  of  the  times, 
the  luxury  of  the  nobles,  the  usurpation  of  the 
Medici,  and  the  vices  of  the  popes,  with  a  fearless 
11 


162  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


fervor  and  eloquence  which  his  hearers  ar  d  himself 
mistook  for  direct  inspiration  from  heaven.  The 
influence  of  this  extraordinary  man  increased  daily, 
and  among  his  most  devoted  admirers  and  disciples 
was  Bartolomeo.  In  a  fit  of  perplexity  and  re- 
morse, caused  by  an  eloquent  sermon  of  Savonarola, 
he  joined  with  many  others  in  making  a  sacrifico 
of  all  the  books  and  pictures  which  related  to 
heathen  poetry  and  art  on  which  they  could  lay 
their  hands.  Into  this  funeral  pyre,  which  was 
kindled  in  sight  of  the  people  in  one  of  the  prin- 
cipal streets  of  Florence,  Bartolomeo  flung  all  those 
of  his  designs,  drawings,  and  studies,  which  repre- 
sented either  profane  subjects  or  the  human  figure 
undraped,  and  he  almost  wholly  abandoned  the 
practice  of  his  art  for  the  society  of  his  friend  and 
spiritual  pastor.  But  the  talents,  the  enthusiasm, 
the  popularity  of  Savonarola,  had  marked  him  for 
destruction.  He  was  excommunicated  by  the  pope 
for  heresy,  denounced  by  the  Medici,  and  at  length 
forsaken  by  the  fickle  people  who  had  followed, 
obeyed,  almost  adored  him  as  a  saint.  Bartolomeo 
happened  to  be  lodged  in  the  convent  of  St.  Mark 
when  it  was  attacked  by  the  rabble  and  a  party  of 
nobles.  The  partisans  of  Savonarola  were  massa- 
cred, and  Savonarola  himself  carried  off  to  torture 
and  to  death.  Our  pious  and  excellent  painter  was 
not  remarkable  for  courage.  Terrified  by  the 
tumult  and  horrors  around  him,  he  hid  himself, 
vowing,  if  he  escaped  the  danger,  to  dedicate  him 


FRA  BARTOLOMEO. 


163 


self  to  a  religious  life.  Within  a  few  weeks  the 
unhappy  Savonarola,  after  suffering  the  torture, 
was  publicly  burned  in  the  Grand  Piazza  of  Flor* 
ence  ;  and  Bartolomeo,  struck  with  horror  at  the 
fate  of  his  friend,  —  a  horror  which  seemed  to 
paralyze  all  his  faculties, —  took  the  vows  and  be- 
came a  Dominican  friar,  leaving  to  his  friend  Alber- 
tinelli  the  task  of  completing  those  of  his  frescoes 
and  pictures  which  were  left  unfinished. 

He  passed  the  next  four  years  of  his  life  without 
touching  a  pencil,  in  the  austere  seclusion  of  his 
convent.  At  the  end  of  this  period  the  entreaties 
and  commands  of  his  Superior  induced  Bartolomeo 
tc  resume  the  practice  of  his  art,  and  from  this 
time  he  is  known  as  Fra  Bartolomeo  di  San  Marco, 
and  by  many  writers  he  is  styled  simply  II  Frate 
{the  Friar)  ;  in  Italy  he  is  scarcely  known  by  any 
other  designation. 

Timid  by  nature,  and  tormented  by  religious 
scruples,  he  at  first  returned  to  his  easel  with  lan- 
guor and  reluctance ;  but  an  incident  occurred 
which  reawakened  all  his  genius  and  enthusiasm. 
Young  Raphael,  then  in  his  twenty-first  year, 
and  already  celebrated,  arrived  in  Florence.  He 
visited  the  Frate  in  his  cell,  and  between  these  kin- 
dred spirits  a  friendship  ensued  which  ended  only 
with  death,  and  to  which  we  partly  owe  the  finest 
works  of  both.  Raphael,  who  was  a  perfect  master 
3f  perspective,  instructed  his  friend  in  the  more 
complicated  rules  of  the  science,  and  Fra  Bartolo- 


164  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


meo  in  return  initiated  Raphael  into  some  of  hia 
methods  of  coloring. 

It  was  not,  however,  in  the  merely  mechanical 
processes  of  art  that  these  two  great  painters  owed 
most  to  each  other.  It  is  evident,  on  examining 
his  works,  that  Fra  Bartolomeo's  greatest  improve- 
ment dates  from  his  acquaintance  with  Raphael ; 
that  his  pictures  from  this  time  display  more  energy 
of  expression  —  a  more  intellectual  grace  :  while 
Raphael  imitated  his  friend  in  the  softer  blending 
of  his  colors,  and  learned  from  him  the  art  of  ar- 
ranging draperies  in  an  ampler  and  nobler  style 
than  he  had  hitherto  practised  ;  in  fact,  he  had  just 
at  this  time  caught  the  sentiment  and  manner  of 
Bartolomeo  so  completely,  that  the  only  great  work 
he  executed  at  Florence  (the  Madonna  del  Balda- 
chino ,  in  the  Palazzo  Pitti)  might  be  at  the  first  glance 
mistaken  for  a  composition  of  the  Frate.  Richard- 
son, an  excellent  writer  and  first-rate  authority, 
observes  that  "  at  this  time  Fra  Bartolomeo  seems 
to  have  been  the  greater  man,  and  might  have  been 
the  Raphael,  had  not  Fortune  been  determined  in 
favor  of  the  other."  It  is  not,  however,  Fortune 
alone  which  determines  these  things  ;  and  of  Raphael 
we  might  say,  as  Constance  said  of  her  son,  that 
"  at  his  birth  Nature  and  Fortune  joined  to  make 
him  great."  But  this  is  digressing,  and  we  must 
now  return  to  the  personal  history  of  the  Frate. 

About  the  year  1513  Bartolomeo  obtained  leave 
jf  the  Superior  of  his  convent  to  visit  Rome.  Ho 


FRA  BARTOLOMEO. 


165 


had  heard  so  much  of  the  grand  works  on  which 
Raphael  and  Michael  Angelo  were  employed  by 
Leo  X.,  that  he  could  no  longer  repress  the  wish  to 
behold  and  judge  with  his  own  eyes  these  wonder- 
ful productions.  He  was  also  engaged  to  paint  in 
the  church  of  St.  Sylvester,  on  Monte  Cavallo,  But 
the  air  of  Rome  did  not  agree  with  him.  He,  in- 
deed, renewed  his  friendship  with  Raphael,  and 
they  spent  many  hours  and  days  in  each  other's 
society ;  but  Raphael  had  by  this  time  so  far  out- 
run him  in  every  kind  of  excellence,  and  what  he 
saw  around  him  in  the  Vatican  and  in  the  Sistine 
Chapel  so  far  surpassed  his  previous  conceptions, 
that  admiration  and  astonishment  seemed  to  swal- 
low up  the  feeling  of  emulation.  There  was  no 
envy  in  his  gentle  and  pious  mind  ;  but  he  could  not 
pxint,  he  could  not  apply  himself.  A  cloud  fell 
i.pon  his  spirits,  which  was  attributed  partly  to 
indisposition  ;  and  he  returned  to  Florence,  leaving 
at  Rome  only  two  unfinished  pictures  —  figures  of 
St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  which  Raphael  undertook  to 
finish  for  him,  and,  in  the  midst  of  his  own  great 
and  multifarious  works,  found  time  to  complete. 
It  is  said  that  while  Raphael  was  painting  on  the 
head  of  St.  Peter,  two  of  his  friends,  who  were  car- 
dinals, and  not  remarkable  for  the  sanctity  of  their 
lives,  stood  conversing  with  him,  and  thought 
either  to  compliment  him,  or  perhaps  rimse  him  to 
contradiction,  by  criticizing  the  work  of  Bartolo- 
meo.    One  of  them  observed  that  the  coloring  was 


166 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


inuch  too  red.  To  which  Raphael  replied,  with  that 
graceful  gayety  which  blunts  the  edge  of  a  sar- 
casm, ' 'May  it  please  your  Eminences,  the  holy 
apostle  here  represented  is  blushing  in  heaven,  aa 
he  certainly  would  do  were"  he  now  present,  to 
behold  the  church  he  founded  on  earth  governed  by 
such  as  you  !  " 

On  returning  to  Florence,  Fra  Bartolomeo  re- 
sumed his  pencil,  and  showed  that  his  journey  to 
Rome  had  not  been  in  vain.  His  finest  works,  the 
St.  Mark,  now  in  the  Pitti  Palace,  and  the  famous 
Madonna  di  Misericordia  at  Lucca,  were  executed 
after  his  return.  Every  picture  subsequently 
painted  displayed  increasing  vigor  ;  and  he  was  still 
in  the  full  possession  of  his  powers  when  he  was 
seized  with  a  fever  and  dysentery,  caused,  it  is  said, 
by  eating  too  many  figs,  and  died  in  his  convent, 
October  8,  1517,  being  then  in  his  forty-eighth 
year. 

The  personal  character  of  Fra  Bartolomeo  is  im- 
pressed on  all  his  works.  He  was  deficient,  as  we 
have  seen,  in  physical  courage  and  energy  ;  but  in 
his  disposition  enthusiastic,  devout,  and  affection- 
ate. Tenderness  and  a  soft  regular  beauty  charac- 
terize his  female  heads  ;  his  saints  have  a  mild  and 
serious  dignity.  He  is  very  seldom  grand  or  sub- 
lime in  conception,  or  energetic  in  movement  and 
expression  ;  the  pervading  sentiment  in  all  his  best 
pictures  is  holiness.  He  particularly  excelled  in 
the  figures  of  boy-angels,  which  he  introduced  into 


FRA  BARTOLOMEO. 


167 


most  of  his  groups,  sometimes  play  mg  on  musi- 
cal instruments,  seated  at  the  feet  of  the  Vrirginror 
bearing  a  canopy  over  her  head,  but,  hcwever  em- 
ployed, always  full  of  infantine  grace  and  candor. 
He  is  also  famed  for  the  rich  architecture  he  intro- 
duced into  his  pictures,  and  for  the  grand  and 
flowing  style  of  his  draperies.  It  was  his  opinion 
that  every  object  should  be  painted,  if  possible, 
from  nature  ;  and,  for  the  better  study  and  arrange- 
ment of  the  drapery,  he  invented  those  wooden 
figures  with  joints  (called  lay-figures)  which  are 
now  to  be  found  in  the  studio  of  every  painter,  and 
which  have  been  of  incalculable  service  in  art. 

His  pictures  are  not  commonly  met  with.  Lucca, 
Florence,  and  Vienna,  possess  the  three  finest. 

The  first  of  these,  at  Lucca,  is  perhaps  the  most 
important  of  all  his  works.  It  is  called  the  Ma- 
donna della  Misericordia,  and  represents  the  Virgin, 
a  grand  and  beautiful  figure,  standing  on  a  raised 
platform  with  outstretched  arms,  pleading  for 
mercy  for  mankind  ;  around  her  are  groups  of  sup- 
pliants, who  look  up  to  her  as  she  looks  up  to 
heaven,  where,  throned  in  judgment,  is  seen  her 
divine  Son.  Wilkie,  in  one  of  his  letters  from 
Italy  (1827),  dwells  upon  the  beauty  of  this  noble 
picture,  and  says  that  it  combines  the  merits  of 
Raphael,  of  Titian,  of  Rembrandt,  and  of  Rubens  ! 
"  Here,"  he  says,  "  a  monk  in  the  retirement  of 
his  cloister,  shut  out  from  the  taunts  and  criticism 
of  the  world,  seems  to  have  anticipated  in  his  early 


168  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


time  all  that  his  art  could  arrive  at  in  its  most  ad- 
vanced maturity  ;  and  this  he  has  been  able  to  do 
without  the  usual  blandishments  of  the  more  recent 
periods 3  and  with  all  the  higher  qualities  peculiar 
to  the  age  in  which  he  lived."  # 

This  is  very  high  praise,  particularly  from  such  a 
man  as  Wilkie.  The  mere  outline  engraving  in 
Rosini's  "  Storia  della  Pittura "  will  show  the 
beauty  of  the  composition ;  and  the  testimony  of 
Wilkie  with  regard  to  the  magical  coloring  is  suf- 
ficient. 

The  St.  Mark  in  the  Pitti  Palace  is  a  single 
figure,  seated,  and  holding  his  Gospel  in  his  hand. 
It  is  so  remarkable  for  its  grandeur  and  simplicity 
as  to  have  been  frequently  compared  with  the  re- 
mains of  Grecian  art.  For  this  picture  a  Grand- 
Duke  of  Tuscany  (Ferdinand  II.)  paid  twelve  hun- 
dred pounds,  nearly  two  hundred  years  ago  ;  which, 
according  to  the  present  value  of  money,  would  be 
equal  to  about  three  thousand  pounds. 

In  the  Imperial  Gallery  at  Vienna  is  the  Present- 
ation in  the  Temple,  a  picture  of  wonderful  dignity 
and  beauty,  and  well  known  by  the  fine  engravings 
which  exist  of  it.  The  figures  are  rather  less  than 
life. 

In  the  Louvre  at  Paris  are  two  very  fine  pictures  : 
a  Madonna  enthroned,  with  several  figures,  life- 
size,  which  was  painted  as  an  altar-piece  for  his 
own  convent  of  St.  Mark,  and  afterwards  sent  as  a 

*  Life  of  Sir  David  Wilkie,  vol.  ii.,  p.  451- 


FRA  BARTOLOMEO. 


1G9 


present  to  Francis  I. ;  the  other  is  an  Annuncia- 
tion. 

Tn  the  Grosvenor  Gallery  there  is  a  divine  little 
picture,  in  which  the  Infant  Christ  is  represented 
reclining  on  the  lap  of  the  Virgin,  and  holding  the 
cross,  which  the  young  St.  John,  stretching  forth 
his  arms,  appears  anxious  to  take  from  him. 

The  Berlin  Gallery  contains  only  one  of  his  pic- 
tures ;  the  Dresden  Gallery,  not  one.  His  works  are 
best  studied  in  his  native  city  of  Florence,  to  which 
they  are  chiefly  confined. 

Fra  Bartolomeo  had  several  scholars,  none  of 
whom  were  distinguished,  except  a  nun  of  the  mon- 
astery of  St.  Catherine,  known  as  Suor  Plautilla, 
who  very  successfully  imitated  his  style,  and  has 
left  some  beautiful  pictures. 


LIONARDO  DA  VINCI. 


Born  1452,  died  1519. 

We  now  approach  the  period  when  the  art  of 
painting  reached  its  highest  perfection,  whether 
considered  with  reference  to  poetry  of  conception, 
or  the  mechanical  means  through  which  these  con- 
ceptions were  embodied  in  the  noblest  forms.  With- 
in a  short  period  of  about  thirty  years,  that  is,  be- 
tween 1490  and  1520,  the  greatest  painters  whom 
the  world  has  yet  seen  were  living  and  working 
together.  On  looking  back,  we  cannot  but  feel  that 
the  excellence  they  attained  was  the  result  of  the 
efforts  and  aspirations  of  a  preceding  age  ;  and  yet 
these  men  were  so  great  in  their  vocation,  and  so 
individual  in  their  greatness,  that,  losing  sight  of 
the  linked  chain  of  progress,  they  seemed  at  first  to 
have  had  no  precursors,  as  they  have  since  had  no 
peers.  Though  living  at  the  same  time,  and  most 
of  them  in  personal  relation  with  each  other,  the 
direction  of  each  mind  was  different  —  was  pecu- 
liar ;  though  exercising  in  some  sort  a  reciprocal 
influence,  this  influence  never  interfered  with  the 
most  decided  originality.  These  wonderful  artists, 
who  would  have  been  remarkable  men  in  their  time, 

(170> 


L10NARD0  DA  VINCI. 


171 


chough  they  had  never  touched  a  pencil,  were  Le- 
onardo da  Vinci,  Michael  Angelo,  Raphael,  Correg- 
gio,  Giorgione,  Titian,  in  Italy  ;  and  in  Germany, 
Albert  Durer.  Of  these  men,  we  might  say,  as  of 
Homer  and  Shakspeare,  that  they  belong  to  no  par- 
ticular age  or  country,  but  to  all  time,  and  to  the 
universe.  That  they  flourished  together  within  one 
brief  and  brilliant  period,  and  that  each  carried  out 
to  the  highest  degree  of  perfection  his  own  peculiar 
aims,  was  no  casualty  ;  nor  are  we  to  seek  for  the 
causes  of  this  surpassing  excellence  merely  in  the 
history  of  the  art  as  such.  The  causes  lay  far 
deeper,  and  must  be  referred  to  the  history  of 
human  culture.  The  fermenting  activity  of  the 
fifteenth  century  found  its  results  in  the  extraor- 
dinary development  of  human  intelligence  in  the 
commencement  of  the  sixteenth  century.  We  often 
hear  in  these  days  of  "  the  spirit  of  the  age  ;  "  but 
in  that  wonderful  age  three  mighty  spirits  were 
stirring  society  to  iU  depths  :  —  the  spirit  of  bold 
investigation  into  truths  of  all  kinds,  which  led  to 
the  Reformation  ;  the  spirit  of  daring  adventure, 
which  led  men  in  search  of  new  worlds  beyond  the 
eastern  and  the  western  oceans  ;  and  the  spirit  of 
art,  through  which  men  soared  even  to  the  "  seventh 
heaven  of  invention." 

Lionardo  da  Vinci  seems  to  present  in  his  own 
person  a  resume  of  all  the  characteristics  of  the 
age  in  which  he  lived.  He  was  the  miracle  of  that 
age  of  miracles.    Ardent  and  versatile  as  youth  ; 


172 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


patient  and  persevering  as  age ;  a  most  profound 
and  original  thinker ;  the  greatest  mathematician 
and  most  ingenious  mechanic  of  his  time ;  architect 
chemist  engineer,  musician,  poet,  painter! — we 
are  not  only  astounded  by  the  variety  of  his  natural 
gifts  and  acquired  knowledge,  but  by  the  practi- 
cal direction  of  his  amazing  powers.*  The  extracts 
which  have  been  published  from  MSS.  now  existing 
in  his  own  handwriting  show  him  to  have  antici- 
pated, by  the  force  of  his  own  intellect,  some  of  the 
greatest  discoveries  made  since  his  time.  These 
fragments,  says  Mr.  Hallam,f  "  are,  according  to 
our  common  estimate  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived, 
more  like  revelations  of  physical  truths  vouchsafed 
to  a  single  mind,  than  the  superstructure  of  its 
reasoning  upon  any  established  basis.  The  dis- 
coveries which  made  Galileo,  Kepler,  Castelli,  and 
other  names  illustrious  —  the  system  of  Copernicus 
—  the  very  theories  of  recent  geologists,  are  antici- 
pated by  Da  Vinci  within  the  compass  of  a  few 
pages,  not  perhaps  in  the  most  precise  language, 
or  on  the  most  conclusive  reasoning,  but  so  as  to 
fctrike  us  with  something  like  the  awe  of  preter- 
natural Knowledge.     In  an  age  of  so  much  dog- 

*  The  Italian  writers  thus  sum  up  the  qualifications  of  Lionardo, 
with  an  array  of  discriminative  epithets  not  easily  translated  :  — 
"  Valente  musico  e  poeta  j  ingegnoso  mecanico  5  profondo  geom- 
etra e  matematico  5  egregio  architetto  ;  esimio  idraulico  eccelente 
plasticatore  e  sommo  pittore.*' 

t  "  History  of  the  Literature  of  Europe. 


LIONARDO  DA  VINCI. 


173 


matism,  he  lirst  laid  down  the  grand  piociple  of 
Bacon,  that  experiment  and  observation  must  bo 
the  guides  to  just  theory  in  the  investigation  of 
nature.  If  any  doubt  could  be  harbored,  not  as  to 
the  right  of  Lionardo  da  Vinci  to  stand  as  the  first 
name  of  the  fifteenth  century,  which  is  beyond  all 
doubt, #  but  as  to  his  originality  in  so  many  discov- 
eries, which  probably  no  one  man,  especially  in  such 
circumstances,  has  ever  made,  it  must  be  by  an 
hypothesis  not  very  untenable,  that  some  parts  of 
physical  science  had  already  attained  a  height 
which  mere  books  do  not  record." 

It  seems  at  first  sight  almost  incomprehensible 
that,  thus  endowed  as  a  philosopher,  mechanic, 
inventor,  discoverer,  the  fame  of  Lionardo  should 
now  rest  on  the  works  he  has  left  as  a  painter. 
We  cannot,  within  these  limits,  attempt  to  explain 
why  and  how  it  is  that  as  the  man  of  science  he  has 
been  naturally  and  necessarily  left  behind  by  the 
onward  march  of  intellectual  progress,  while  as  the 
poet-painter  he  still  survives  as  a  presence  and  a 
power.  We  must  proceed  at  once  to  give  some 
account  of  him  in  the  character  in  which  he  exists 
to  us  and  for  us  —  that  of  the  great  artist. 

Lionardo  was  born  at  Vinci,  near  Florence,  in 
the  Lower  Val  d'Arno,  on  the  borders  of  the  terri- 
tory of  Pistoia.     His  father,  Piero  da  Vinci,  was 

*  When  we  think  of  Lionardo's  contemporary,  Columbus,  we  feel 
inclined,  if  not  to  dispute  this  fiat  of  the  great  historian,  at  least  to 
ponder  on  it,  and  those  ponderings  lead  us  far. 


174  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


an  advocate  of  Florence  —  not  rich,  but  in  inde- 
pendent circumstances,  and  possessed  of  estates  in 
land.  The  singular  talents  of  his  son  induced  Piero 
to  give  hhn,  from  an  early  age,  the  advantage  of  the 
best  instructors.  As  a  child,  he  distinguished  him- 
self by  his  proficiency  in  arithmetic  and  mathe- 
matics. Music  he  studied  early,  as  a  science  as 
well  as  an  art.  He  invented  a  species  of  lyre  for 
himself,  and  sung  his  own  poetical  compositions  to 
his  own  music  —  both  being  frequently  extempora- 
neous. But  his  favorite  pursuit  was  the  art  of 
design  in  all  its  branches ;  he  modelled  in  clay  or 
wax,  or  attempted  to  draw  every  object  which  struck 
his  fancy.  His  father  sent  him  to  study  under  An- 
drea Verrocchio  (of  whom  we  have  already  given 
some  account), *  famous  as  a  sculptor,  chaser  in 
metal,  and  painter.  Andrea,  who  was  an  excellent 
and  correct  designer,  but  a  bad  and  hard  colorist, 
was  soon  after  engaged  to  paint  a  picture  of  the 
Baptism  of  our  Saviour.  '  He  employed  Lionardo, 
then  a  youth,  to  execute  one  of  the  angels.  This 
he  did  with  so  much  softness  and  richness  of  color 
that  it  far  surpassed  the  rest  of  the  picture  ;  and 
Verocchio  from  that  time  threw  away  his  palette, 
and  confined  himself  wholly  to  his  works  in  sculp- 
ture and  design;  ' 4  enraged,"  says  Vasari,  "  that 
a  child  should  thus  excel  him."  f 

*  See  p.  ill. 

t  This  picture  is  now  preserved  in  the  Academy  at  Florence.  The 
first  angel  on  the  right  is  that  which  was  painted  by  Lionardo. 


LIONARDO  DA  VINCI. 


175 


The  youth  of  Lionardo  thus  passed  away  in  the 
pursuit  of  science  and  of  art.  Sometimes  he  was 
deeply  engaged  in  astronomical  calculations  and 
investigations  ;  sometimes  ardent  in  the  study  of 
natural  history,  botany,  and  anatomy  ;  sometimes 
intent  on  new  effects  of  color,  light,  shadow,  or 
expression,  in  representing  objects  animate  or  inan- 
imate. Versatile,  yet  persevering,  he  varied  his 
pursuits,  but  he  never  abandoned  any.  He  was 
quite  a  young  man  when  he  conceived  and  demon- 
strated the  practicability  of  two  magnificent  proj- 
ects. One  was,  to  lift  the  whole  of  the  church  of 
San  Lorenzo,  by  means  of  immense  levers,  some  feet 
higher  than  it  now  stands,  and  thus  supply  the  defi- 
cient elevation  ;#  the  other  project  was,  to  form  the 
Arno  into  a  navigable  canal,  as  far  as  Pisa,  which 
would  have  added  greatly  to  the  commercial  advan- 
tages of  Florence.f 

It  happened  about  this  time  that  a  peasant  on 
the  estate  of  Piero  da  Vinci  brought  him  a  circular 
piece  of  wood,  cut  horizontally  from  the  trunk  of  a 
very  large  old  fig-tree,  which  had  been  lately  felled, 
and  begged  to  have  something  painted  on  it  as  an 
ornament  for  his  cottage.  The  man  being  an  espe- 
cial favorite,  Piero  desired  his  son  Lionardo  to  grat- 

*  Wild  as  this  project  must  have  appeared,  it  was  not  perhaps 
impossible.  In  our  days,  the  Sunderland  Light-house  was  lifted 
from  its  foundations,  and  removed  to  a  distance  of  several  yards. 

t  This  project  was  carried  into  execution  two  hundred  yeas 
later. 


176  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


ify  his  request ;  and  Lionardo,  inspired  by  that 
wildness  of  fancy  which  was  one  of  his  character- 
istics, took  the  panel  into  his  own  room,  and  re- 
solved to  astonish  his  father  by  a  most  unlooked-for 
proof  of  his  art.  He  determined  to  compose  some- 
thing which  should  have  an  effect  similar  to  that  of 
the  Medusa  on  the  shield  of  Perseus,  and  almost 
petrify  beholders.  Aided  by  his  recent  studies  in 
natural  history,  he  collected  together  from  the 
neighboring  swamps  and  the  river-mud  all  kinds 
of  hideous  reptiles,  as  adders,  lizards,  toads,  ser- 
pents ;  insects,  as  moths,  locusts  ;  and  other  crawl- 
ing and  flying,  obscene  and  obnoxious  things ;  and 
out  of  these  he  compounded  a  sort  of  monster,  or 
chimera,  which  he  represented  as  about  to  issue 
from  the  shield,  with  eyes  flashing  fire,  and  of  an 
aspect  so  fearful  and  abominable  that  it  seemed  to 
infect  the  very  air  around.  When  finished,  he  led 
his  father  into  the  room  in  which  it  was  placed, 
and  the  terror  and  horror  of  Piero  proved  the  suc- 
cess of  his  attempt.  This  production,  afterwards 
known  as  the  Rotello  del  Fico,*  from  the  material 
on  which  it  was  painted,  was  sold  by  Piero  secretly 
for  one  hundred  ducats,  to  a  merchant,  who  carried 
it  to  Milan,  and  sold  it  to  the  duke  for  three  hun- 
dred. To  the  poor  peasant  thus  cheated  of  his 
Rotello,  Piero  gave  a  wooden  shield,  on  which  was 
painted  a  heart  transfixed  by  a  dart ;  a  device  "bet- 
ter suited  to  his  taste  and  comprehension.    In  the 

*  Rotello  means  a  shield  or  buckler  ;  Fi'co,  a  fig-tree. 


LIONAKDO  DA  VlNCI. 


177 


subsequent  troubles  of  Milan,  Leonardo's  picture 
disappeared,  and  was  probably  destroyed,  as  an 
object  of  horror,  by  those  who  did  not  understand 
its  value  as  a  work  of  art. 

The  anomalous  monster  represented  on  the  Ro- 
tello  was  wholly  different  from  the  Medusa,  after- 
wards painted  by  Lionardo,and  now  existing  in  the 
Florence  Gallery.  It  represents  the  severed  head  of 
Medusa,  seen  foreshortened,  lying  on  a  fragment  of 
rock.  The  features  are  beautiful  and  regular  ;  the 
hair  already  metamorphosed  into  serpents  — 

"  which  curl  and  flow, 
And  their  long  tangles  in  each  other  lock, 
And  with  unending  involutions  show 
Their  mailed  radiance." 

Those  who  have  once  seen  this  terrible  and  fascinat- 
ing picture  can  never  forget  it.  The  ghastly  head 
seems  to  expire,  and  the  serpents  to  crawl  into  glit- 
tering life,  as  we  look  upon  it. 

During  this  first  period  of  his  life,  which  was 
wholly  passed  in  Florence  and  its  neighborhood. 
Lionardo  painted  several  other  pictures,  of  a  very 
different  character,  and  designed  some  beautiful 
cartoons  of  sacred  and  mythological  subjects,  which 
showed  that  his  sense  of  the  beautiful,  the  elevated, 
and  the  graceful,  was  not  less  a  part  of  his  mind, 
than  that  eccentricity  and  almost  perversion  of 
fancy  which  made  him  delight  in  sketching  ugly, 
12 


178  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


exaggerated  caricatures,  and  representing  the  de- 
formed and  the  terrible. 

Lionardo  da  Vinci  was  now  about  thirty  years 
old,  in  the  prime  of  his  life  and  talents.  His  taste 
for  pleasure  and  expense  was,  however,  equal  to  his 
genius  and  indefatigable  industry  ;  and,  anxious  to 
secure  a  certain  provision  for  the  future,  as  well 
as  a  wider  field  for  the  exercise  of  his  various 
talents,  he  accepted  the  invitation  of  Ludovico 
Sforza  il  Moro,  then  regent,  afterwards  Duke  of 
Milan,  to  reside  in  his  court,  and  to  execute  a  co 
lossal  equestrian  statue  of  his  ancestor  Francesco 
Sforza.  Here  begins  the  second  period  of  his  artis- 
tic career,  which  includes  his  sojourn  at  Milan, 
that  is,  from  1483  to  1499. 

Vasari  says  that  Lionardo  was  invited  to  the 
court  of  Milan  for  the  Duke  Ludovico's  amusement, 
"asa  musician  and  performer  on  the  lyre,  and  as 
the  greatest  singer  and  improvisatore  of  his  time  ;  " 
but  this  is  improbable.  Lionardo,  in  his  long 
letter  to  that  prince,  in  which  he  recites  his  own 
qualifications  for  employment,  dwells  chiefly  on  his 
skill  in  engineering  and  fortification,  and  sums  up 
his  pretensions  as  an  artist  in  these  few  brief  word3  : 
"  I  understand  the  different  modes  of  sculpture  in 
marble,  bronze,  and  terra-cotta.  In  painting,  also, 
1  may  esteem  myself  equal  to  any  one,  let  him  be 
who  he  may."  .  Of  his  musical  talents  he  makes  no 
mention  whatever,  though  undoubtedly  these,  as 
well  as  his  other  social  accomplishments,  his  hand 


LIONARDO  DA  VINCI. 


iome  person,  his  winning  address,  his  wit  and  elo- 
quence, recommended  him  to  the  notice  of  the 
prince,  by  whom  he  was  greatly  beloved,  and  in 
whose  service  he  remained  for  about  seventeen 
years.  It  is  not  necessary,  nor  would  it  be  possible 
here,  to  give  a  particular  account  of  all  the  workf 
in  which  Lionardo  was  engaged  for  his  patron,* 
nor  of  the  great  political  events  in  which  he  was 
involved,  more  by  his  position  than  by  his  inclina- 
tion ;  for  instance,  the  invasion  of  Italy  by  Charle/ 
VIII.  of  France,  and  the  subsequent  invasion  ol 
Milan  by  Louis  XII.,  which  ended  in  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  Duke  Ludovico.  We  shall  only  men- 
tion a  few  of  the  pictures  he  executed.  One'  of 
these,  the  portrait  of  Lucrezia  Crivelli,  is  now  in 
the  Louvre  (No.  1091).  Another  was  the  Nativity 
of  our  Saviour,  in  the  imperial  collection  at  Vienna  ; 
but  the  greatest  work  of  all,  and  by  far  the  grand- 
est picture  which,  up  to  that  time,  had  been  exe- 
cuted in  Italy,  was  the  Last  Supper,  painted  on  the 
wall  of  the  refectory,  or  dining-room,  of  the  Do- 
minican convent  of  the  Madonna  delle  Grazie.  It 
occupied  the  painter  about  two  years.  Of  this 
magnificent  creation  of  art  only  the  mouldering 
remains  are  now  visible.  It  has  been  so  often 
repaired,  that  almost  every  vestige  of  the  original 
painting  is  annihilated  ;  but,  from  the  multiplicity 

*  Of  these,  the  canal  of  the  Martesana,  as  well  from  its  utility  as 
from  the  difficulties  he  surmounted  in  its  execution,  would  have 
been  sufficient  to  immortalize  him. 


180 


V 

EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


of  descriptions,  engravings,  and  copies  that  exist 
no  picture  is  more  universally  known  and  cele- 
brated. 

The  moment  selected  by  the  painter  is  described 
in  the  twenty-sixth  chapter  of  St.  Matthew,  twenty- 
first  and  twenty-second  verses  :  "  And  as  they  did 
eat,  ho  said,  Verily,  I  say  unto  you,  that  one  of 
you  shall  betray  me  :  and  they  were  exceeding  sor- 
rowful, and  began  every  one  of  them  to  say  unto 
him,  Lord,  is  it  I  ?  "  The  knowledge  of  character 
displayed  in  the  heads  of  the  different  apostles  is 
even  more  wonderful  than  the  skilful  arrangement 
of  the  figures  and  the  amazing  beauty  of  the  work- 
manship. The  space  occupied  by  the  picture  is  a 
wall  twenty-eight  feet  in  length,  and  the  figures 
are  larger  than  life.  The  best  judgment  we  can 
now  form  of  its  merits  is  from  the  fine  copy  exe- 
cuted by  one  of  Lionardo's  best  pupils,  Marco  Ug- 
gione,  for  the  Certosa  at  Pavia,  and  now  in  London, 
in  the  collection  of  the  Royal  Academy.  Eleven 
-other  copies,  by  various  pupils  of  Lionardo,  painted 
either  during  his  lifetime  or  within  a  few  years 
after  his  death,  while  the  picture  was  in  perfect 
preservation,  exist  in  different  churches  and  collec- 
tions. 

Of  the  grand  equestrian  statue  of  Francesco 
Sforza,  Lionardo  never  finished  more  than  the 
model  in  clay,  which  was  considered  a  master- 
piece. Some  years  afterwards  (in  1499),  when 
Milan  was  invaded  by  the  French,  it  was  used  as  a 


LIONARDO  1>A  VINCI. 


131 


target  by  the  Gascon  bowmen,  and  completely  de- 
stroyed. The  profound  anatomical  studies  which 
Lionardo  made  for  this  work  still  exist. 

In  the  year  1500,  the  French  being  in  possession 
of  Milan,  his  patron  Ludovico  in  captivity,  and  the 
affairs  of  the  state  in  utter  confusion,  Lionardo  re- 
turned to  his  native  Florence,  where  he  hoped  to 
reestablish  his  broken  fortunes,  and  to  find  employ- 
ment. Here  begins  the  third  period  of  his  artistic 
life,  from  1500  to  1513,  that  is,  from  his  forty- 
eighth  to  his  sixtieth  year.  He  found  the  Medici 
family  in  exile,  but  was  received  by  Pietro  Soderini 
(who  governed  the  city  as  "  Gonfaloniere  perpetuo  ' ') 
with  great  distinction,  and  a  pension  was  assigned 
to  him  as  painter  in  the  service  of  the  republic. 

Then  began  the  rivalry  between  Lionardo  and 
Michael  Angelo,  which  lasted  during  the  remainder 
of  Lionardo's  life.  The  difference  of  age  (for 
Michael  Angelo  was  twenty-two  years  younger) 
ought  to  have  prevented  all  unseemly  jealousy. 
But  Michael  Angelo  was  haughty,  and  impatient  of 
all  superiority,  or  even  equality  ;  Lionardo,  sen- 
sitive, capricious,  and  naturally  disinclined  to 
admit  the  pretensions  of  a  rival,  to  whom  he  could 
say,  and  did  say,  "  I  was  famous  before  you  were 
born  !  "  With  all  their  admiration  of  each  other's 
genius,  their  mutual  frailties  prevented  any  real 
good- will  on  either  side.  The  two  painters  com- 
peted for  the  honor  of  painting  in  fresco  one  side 
of  the  great  Council-hall  in  the  Palazzo  Vecchio  at 


182  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


Florence.  Each  prepared  his  cartoon  ;  each,  emu 
lous  of  the  fame  and  conscious  of  the  abilities  of  his 
rival,  threw  all  his  best  powers  into  his  work. 
Lionardo  chose  for  his  subject  the  Defeat  of  the 
Milanese  general,  Niccolo  Piccinino,by  the  Floren- 
tine army  in  1440.  One  of  the  finest  groups  repre- 
sented a  combat  of  cavalry  disputing  the  possession 
of  a  standard.  4 4  It  was  so  wonderfully  executed, 
that  the  horses  themselves  seemed  animated  by  the 
came  fury  as  their  riders  ;  nor  is  it  possible  to  de- 
scribe the  variety  of  attitudes,  the  splendor  of  the 
dresses  and  armor  of  the  warriors,  nor  the  incred- 
ible skill  displayed  in  the  forms  and  actions  of  the 
horses." 

Michael  Angelo  chose  for  his  subject  the  moment 
before  the  same  battle,  when  a  party  of  Florentine 
soldiers  bathing  in  the  Arno  are  surprised  by  the 
sound  of  the  trumpet  calling  them  to  arms.  Of 
this  cartoon  we  shall  have  more  to  say  in  treating 
of  his  life.  The  preference  was  given  to  Lionardo 
da  Vinci.  But,  as  Vasari  relates,  he  spent  so  much 
time  in  trying  experiments,  and  in  preparing  the 
wall  to  receive  oil-painting,  which  he  preferred  to 
fresco,  that  in  the  interval  some  changes  in  the 
government  intervened,  and  the  design  was  aban- 
doned. The  two  cartoons  remained  for  several 
years  open  to  the  public,  and  artists  flocked  from 
every  part  of  Italy  to  study  them.  Subsequently 
they  were  cut  up  into  separate  parts,  dispersed,  and 
lost.    It  is  curious  that  of  Michael  Angelo's  com 


LIONARDO  DA  VINCI. 


183 


position  only  one  small  copy  exists  ;  of  Leonardo's 
not  one.    From  a  fragment  which  existed  in  his 
time,  but  which  has  since  disappeared,  Rubens 
made  a  fine  drawing,  which  was  engraved  by  Ede- 
linck,  and  is  known  as  the  Battle  of  the  Standard. 

It  was  a  reproach  against  Lionardo,  in  his  own 
time,  that  he  began  many  things  and  finished  few  ; 
that  his  magnificent  designs  and  projects,  whether 
in  art  or  mechanics,  were  seldom  completed.  Th's 
may  be  a  subject  of  regret,  but  it  is  unjust  to  mak  3 
it  a  reproach.  It  was  in  the  nature  of  the  man 
The  grasp  of  his  mind  was  so  nearly  superhuman 
that  he  never,  in  anything  he  effected,  satisfied  him- 
self or  realized  his  own  vast  conceptions.  The  most 
exquisitely  finished  of  his  works,  those  t  hat  in  the 
perfection  of  the  execution  have  excited  the  wonder 
and  despair  of  succeeding  artists,  were  put  aside 
by  him  as  unfinished  sketches.  Most  of  the  pic- 
tures now  attributed  to  him  were  wholly  or  in  part 
painted  by  his  scholars  and  imitators  from  his  car- 
toons. One  of  the  most  famous  of  these  was  de- 
signed for  the  altar-piece  of  the  church  of  the  con- 
vent called  the  Nunziata.  [t  represented  the 
Virgin  Mary  seated  in  the  lap  of  her  mother,  St. 
Anna,  having  in  her  arms  the  infant  Christ,  while 
St.  John  is  playing  with  a  lamb  at  their  feet ;  St. 
Anna,  looking  on  with  a  tender  smile,  rejoices  in 
her  divine  offspring.  The  figures  were  drawn  with 
such  skill,  and  the  various  expressions  proper  to 
each  conveyed  with  such  inimitable  truth  and  grace, 


184 


llARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


that,  when  exhibited  in  a  chamber  of  the  convent, 
the  inhabitants  of  the  city  flocked  to  see  it,  and  foi 
two  days  the  streets  were  crowded  with  people 
4 4  as  if  it  had  been  some  solemn  festival ;  "  but  the 
picture  was  never  painted,  and  the  monks  of  tht 
Nunziata,  after  waiting  long  and  in  vain  for  then 
altar-piece,  were  obliged  to  employ  other  artists. 
The  cartoon,  or  a  very  fine  repetition  of  it,  is  now 
in  the  possession  of  our  Royal  Academy,  and  it 
must  not  be  confounded  with  the  St.  Anna  in  the 
Louvre,  a  more  fantastic  and  apparently  an  earliei 
composition. 

Lionardo,  during  his  stay  at  Florence,  painted 
the  portrait  of  Ginevra  Benci,  already  mentioned, 
in  the  memoir  of  Ghirlandajo,  as  the  reigning 
beauty  of  her  time  ;  and  also  the  portrait  of  Mona 
'Lisa  del  Giocondo,  sometimes  called  La  Joconde. 
On  this  last  picture  he  worked  at  intervals  for  foui 
years,  but  was  still  unsatisfied.  It  was  purchased 
by  Francis  I.  for  four  thousand  golden  crowns,  and 
is  now  in  the  Louvre.  We  find  Lionardo  also  en- 
gaged by  Caesar  Borgia  to  visit  and  report  on  the 
fortifications  of  his  territories,  and  in  this  office  he 
was  employed  for  two  years.  In  1514  he  was  In- 
vited to  Rome  by  Leo  X.,  but  more  in  hie  character 
of  philosopher,  mechanic,  and  alchemist,  than  as  a 
painter.  Here  he  found  Raphael  at  the  height  of 
his  fame,  and  then  engaged  in  his  greatest  works 
—  the  frescoes  of  the  Vatican.  Two  pictures  which 
Lionardo  painted  while  at  Rome  —  the  Madonna 


LIONARDO  DA  VINCI. 


185 


of  Sfc.  Onofrio,  and  the  Holy  Family,  painted  for 
Filiberta  of  Savoy,  the  pope's  sister-in-law  (which 
is  now  at  St.  Petersburg) — show  that  even  this 
veteran  in  art  felt  the  irresistible  influence  of  the 
genius  of  his  young  rival.  They  are  both  Raffael 
lesque  in  the  subject  and  treatment. 

It  appears  that  Lionardo  was  ill-satisfied  with  his 
sojourn  at  Rome.  He  had  long  been  accustomed 
to  hold  the  first  rank  as  an  artist  wherever  he  re- 
sided ;  whereas  at  Rome  he  found  himself  only  one 
among  many  who,  if  they  acknowledged  his  great- 
ness, affected  to  consider  his  day  as  past.  He  was 
conscious  that  many  of  the  improvements  in  the 
arts  which  were  now  brought  into  use,  and  which 
enabled  the  painters  of  the  day  to  produce  such  ex- 
traordinary effects,  were  invented  or  introduced  by 
himself.  If  he  could  no  longer  assert  that  measure- 
less superiority  over  all  others  which  he  had  done 
in  his  younger  days,  it  was  because  he  himself  had 
opened  to  them  new  paths  to  excellence.  The 
arrival  of  his  old  competitor  Michael  Angelo,  and 
some  slight  on  the  part  of  Leo  X.,  who  was  an- 
noyed by  his  speculative  and  dilatory  habits  in  ex- 
ecuting the  works  intrusted  to  him,  all  added  to 
his  irritation  and  disgust.  He  left  Rome,  and  set 
out  for  Pavia,  where  the  French  king  Francis  I. 
then  held  his  court.  He  was  received  by  the  young 
monarch  with  every  mark  of  respect,  loaded  with 
favors,  and  a  pension  of  seven  hundred  gold  crowns 
settled  on  him  for  life.    At  the  famous  conferenca 


186 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


between  Francis  I.  and  Leo  X.  at  Bologna,  Leon- 
ardo attended  his  new  patron,  and  was  of  essential 
service  to  him  on  that  occasion.  In  the  following 
year,  1516,  he  returned  with  Francis  I.  to  France, 
and  was  attached  to  the  French  court  as  principal 
painter.  It  appears,  however,  that  during  his 
residence  in  France  he  did  not  paint  a  single  pic- 
ture. His  health  had  begun  to  decline  from  the 
time  he  left  Italy  ;  and,  feeling  his  end  approach, 
he  prepared  himself  for  it  by  religious  meditation, 
by  acts  of  charity,  and  by  a  most  conscientious  dis- 
tribution by  will  of  all  his  worldly  possessions  to 
his  relatives  and  friends.  At  length,  after  pro- 
tracted suffering,  this  great  and  most  extraordinary 
man  died  at  Cloux,  near  Amboise,  on  the  2d  of 
May,  1519,  being  then  in  his  sixty-seventh  year. 
It  is  to  be  regretted  that  we  cannot  wholly  credit 
the  beautiful  story  of  his  dying  in  the  arms  of 
Francis  I.,  who,  as  it  is  said,  had  come  to  visit  him 
on  his  death-bed.  It  would,  indeed,  have  been,  as 
Fuseli  expressed  it,  "  an  honor  to  the  king,  by 
which  Destiny  would  have  atoned  to  that  monarch 
for  his  future  disaster  at  Pavia,"  had  the  incident 
really  happened,  as  it  has  been  so  often  related  by 
biographers,  celebrated  by  poets,  represented  with 
a  just  pride  by  painters,  and  willingly  believed  by 
all  the  world  ;  but  the  well-authenticated  fact  that 
the  court  was  on  that  day  at  St.  Germain-en-Laye, 
whence  the  royal  ordinances  are  dated,  renders  the 
etory,  unhappily,  very  doubtful. 


LIONARDO  DA  VI*  CI. 


187 


We  have  mentioned  a  few  of  the  genuine  works 
of  Lionardo  da  Yinci ;  they  are  exceedingly  rare 
It  appears  certain  that  not  one-third  of  the  pic- 
tures attributed  to  him  and  bearing  his  name 
were  the  production  of  his  OAvn  hand,  though  they 
were  the  creation  of  his  mind,  for  he  generally 
furnished  the  cartoons  or  designs  from  which  his 
pupils  executed  pictures  of  various  degrees  of 
excellence. 

Thus  the  admirable  picture  in  our  National  Gal- 
lery of  Christ  disputing  with  the  Doctors,  though 
undoubtedly  designed  by  Lionardo,  is  supposed  by 
Borne  to  be  executed  by  his  best  scholar,  Bernardino 
Luini ;  by  others  it  is  attributed  to  Francesco  Melzi. 
Those  ruined  pictures  which  bear  his  name  at  Wind- 
sor and  at  Hampton  Court  are  from  the  Milanese 
school.* 

Of  nine  pictures  in  the  Louvre  attributed  to  Lion- 
ardo, three  only — the  St.  John,  and  the  two  famous 
portraits  of  the  Mona  Lisa  and  Lucrezia  Crivelli  — 
are  considered  genuine.  The  others  are  from  his 
designs  and  from  his  school. 

In  the  Florentine  Gallery,  the  Medusa  is  cer- 
tainly genuine ;  but  the  famous  Herodias  holding 
the  dish  to  receive  the  head  of  John  the  Baptist 
was  probably  painted  from  his  cartoon  by  Luini. 

*  The  Falconer,  at  Windsor,  I  believe  to  be  by  Holbein,  and  it  is 
carious  that  this  is  not  the  first  nor  only  Holbein  which  has  been 
attributed  to  Lionardo.  There  is  one  ir  the  Liverpool  Institute, 
and  I  have  known  others. 


188 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


His  own  portrait,  in  the  same  gallery  (in  the  Salle 
des  Peintres),  is  wonderfully  fine  ;  indeed,  the  finest 
of  all,  and  the  one  which  at  once  attracts  and  fixes 
attention. 

In  the  Milan  collections  are  many  pictures  at- 
tributed to  him.  A  few  are  in  private  collections 
in  England.  Lord  Ashburton  has  an  exquisite 
group  of  the  Infant  Christ  and  St.  John  playing 
with  a  lamb  ;  and  there  is  a  small  Madonna  in 
Lord  Shrewsbury's  gallery  at  Alton  Towers. 

But  it  is  the  MS.  notes  and  designs  left  behind 
him  that  give  us  the  best  idea  of  the  indefatigable 
industry  of  this  "  myriad-minded  man,"  and  the 
almost  incredible  extent  of  his  acquirements.  In 
the  Ambrosian  Library  at  Milan  there  are  twelve 
huge  volumes  of  his  works  relative  to  arts,  chem- 
istry, mathematics,  &c.  ;  one  of  them  contains  a 
collection  of  anatomical  drawings,  which  the  cele- 
brated anatomist  Dr.  Hunter  described  as  the  most 
wonderful  things  of  the  kind  for  accuracy  and 
beauty  that  he  had  ever  beheld.  In  the  Royal 
Library  at  Windsor  there  are  three  volumes  of 
MSS.  and  drawings,  containing  a  vast  variety  of 
subjects  —  portraits,  heads,  groups,  and  single  fig- 
ures ;  fine  anatomical  studies  of  horses  ;  a  battle 
of  elephants,  full  of  spirit ;  drawings  in  optics, 
hydraulics,  and  perspective  ;  plans  of  military  ma- 
chines, maps  and  surveys  of  rivers  ;  beautiful  and 
accurate  drawings  of  plants  and  rocks,  to  be  intro- 
duced into  his  pictures  ;  musical  airs  noted  in  his 


LIONARDO  DA  VINCI. 


189 


own  hand,  perhaps  his  own  compositions  ;  anatom- 
ical subjects,  with  elaborate  notes  and  explanations. 
In  the  Royal  Library  at  Paris  there  is  a  volume  of 
philosophical  treatises,  from  which  extracts  have 
been  published  by  Venturi.  In  the  Holkham  Col- 
lection is  a  MS.  treatise  on  hydraulics.  The  "  Trea- 
tise on  Painting,"  by  Lionardo  da  Yinci,  has  been 
translated  from  the  original  Italian  into  French, 
English,  and  German,  and  is  the  foundation  of  all 
that  has  since  been  written  on  the  subject,  whether 
relating  to  the  theory  or  to  the  practice  of  the 
art.  His  MSS.  are  particularly  difficult  to  read 
or  decipher,  as  he  had  a  habit  of  writing  from 
right  to  left,  instead  of  from  left  to  right.  What 
was  his  reason  for  this  singularity  has  not  been 
explained. 

The  scholars  of  Lionardo  da  Vinci,  and  those 
artists  formed  in  the  Academy  which  he  founded 
in  Milan,  under  the  patronage  of  Ludovico  il 
Moro,  comprise  that  school  of  art  known  as  tha 
Milanese,  or  Lombard  School.  They  are  distin- 
guished by  a  lengthy  and  graceful  style  of  draw- 
ing, a  particular  amenity  and  sweetness  of  expres- 
sion (which  in  the  inferior  painters  degenerated 
into  affectation  and  a  sort  of  vapid  smile),  and 
particularly  by  the  transparent  lights  and  shadows 
—  the  chiaroscuro,  of  which  Lionardo  was  the  in- 
ventor or  discoverer.  The  most  eminent  painters 
were  Bernardino  Luini  ;  Marco  CJggione,  or  D'Og- 
gioni ;  Antonio  Beltraffio  ;  Francesco  Melzi  ;  and 


190 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


Andrea  Salai.  All  these  studied  under  the  imme- 
diate tuition  of  Lionardo,  and  painted  most  of  the 
pictures  ascribed  to  him.  Gaudenzio  Ferrari  and 
Cesare  da  Sesto  imitated  him,  and  owed  their 
celebrity  to  his  influence 


MICHAEL  ANGELO. 

Born  1474,  died  1564. 

We  have  spoken  of  Lionardo  da  Vinci.  Michael 
Angelo,  the  other  great  luminary  of  art,  vtas  twen- 
ty-two years  younger  ;  but  the  more  severe  and 
reflective  cast  of  his  mind  rendered  their  difference 
of  age  far  less  in  effect  than  in  reality.  It  is  usual 
to  compare  Michael  Angelo  with  Raphael,  but  he 
is  more  aptly  compared  with  Lionardo  da  Vinci. 
All  the  great  artists  of  that  time,  even  Raphael 
himself,  were  influenced  more  or  less  by  these  two 
extraordinary  men,  but  they  exercised  no  influence 
on  each  other.  They  started  from  opposite  points ; 
they  pursued  throughout  their  whole  existence,  and 
in  all  they  planned  and  achieved,  a  course  as  differ- 
ent as  their  respective  characters.  It  would  be  very 
curious  and  interesting  to  carry  out  the  comparison 
in  detail ;  to  show  the  contrast  in  organization,  in 
temper,  in  talent,  in  taste,  which  existed  between 
men  so  highly  and  so  equally  endowed  ;  but  our 
limits  forbid  this  indulgence.  We  shall,  therefore, 
only  observe  here  that,  considered  as  artists,  they 
emulated  each  other  in  variety  of  power,  but  that 
Lionardo  was  more  the  painter  than  the  sculptor 

(191) 


192 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


and  architect,  Michael  Angelo  was  more  the  sculp- 
tor and  architect  than  the  painter.  Both  sought 
true  inspiration  in  Nature,  but  they  beheld  her 
with  different  eyes.  Lionardo,  who  designed  ad- 
mirably, appears  to  have  seen  no  ovtline  in  objects 
and  labored  all  his  life  to  convey,  by  color  and  ligfit 
and  shade,  the  impression  of  beauty  and  the  illusive 
effect  of  rotundity.  He  preferred  the  use  of  oil  to 
fresco,  because  the  mellow  smoothness  and  trans- 
parency of  the  vehicle  was  more  capable  of  giving 
the  effects  he  desired.  Michael  Angelo,  on  the 
contrary,  turned  his  whole  attention  to  the  defini- 
tion of  form,  and  the  expression  of  life  and  power 
through  action  and  movement ;  he  regarded  the 
illusive  effects  of  painting  as  meretricious  and 
beneath  his  notice,  and  despised  oil-painting  as  a 
style  for  women  and  children.  Considered  as  men, 
both  were  as  high-minded  and  generous  as  they 
were  gifted  and  original ;  but  the  former  was  aa 
remarkable  for  his  versatile  and  social  accomplish- 
ments, his  love  of  pleasure  and  habits  of  expense 
as  the  latter  for  his  stern,  inflexible  temper,  and  his 
temperate,  frugal,  and  secluded  habits. 

Michael  Angelo  Buonaroti  was  born  at  Settig- 
nano,  near  Florence,  in  the  year  1474.  He  was 
descended  from  a  family  once  noble — even  amongst 
the  noblest  of  the  feudal  lords  of  northern  Italy  — 
the  Counts  of  Canossa  ;  but  that  branch  of  it  rep- 
resented by  his  father,  Luigi  Lionardo  Buonaroti 
Simoni,  had  for  some  generations  become  poorer 


MICH  A.EL  ANGELO. 


193 


and  poorer,  until  the  last  descendant  was  thankful 
to  accept  an  office  in  the  law,  and  had  been  nomi 
nated  magistrate  or  major  (Podesta)  of  Chiusi. 
In  this  situation  he  had  limited  his  ambition  to 
the  prospect  of  seeing  his  eldest  son  a  notary  or 
advocate  in  his  native  city.  The  young  Michael 
Angelo  showed  the  utmost  distaste  for  the  studies 
allotted  to  him,  and  was  continually  escaping  from 
his  home  and  from  his  desk  to  haunt  the  ateliers 
of  the  painters,  particularly  that  of  Ghirlandajo, 
who  was  then  at  the  height  of  his  reputation,  and 
of  whom  some  account  has  been  already  given. 

The  father  of  Michael  Angelo,  who  found  his 
family  increase  too  rapidly  for  his  means,  had  des- 
tined some  of  his  sons  for  commerce  (it  will  be 
recollected  that  in  Genoa  and  Florence  the  most 
powerful  nobles  were  merchants  or  manufacturers) , 
and  others  for  civil  or  diplomatic  employments.  But 
the  fine  arts,  as  being  at  that  time  productive  of 
little  honor  or  emolument,  he  held  in  no  esteem, 
and  treated  these  tastes  of  his  eldest  son  sometimes 
with  contempt,  and  sometimes  even  with  harshness. 
Michael  Angelo,  however,  had  formed  some  friend- 
ships among  the  young  painters,  and  particularly 
with  Francesco  Granacci,  one  of  the  best  pupils  of 
Ghirlandajo  ;  he  contrived  to  borrow  models  and 
drawings,  and  studied  them  in  secret  with  such 
persevering  assiduity  and  consequent  improvement 
that  Ghirlandajo,  captivated  by  his  genius,  under- 
took to  plead  his  cause  to  his  father,  and  at  length 
13 


194 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


prevailed  over  the  old  man's  family  pride  and  prej- 
udices. At  the  age  of  fourteen,  Michael  Angelo 
was  received  into  the  studio  of  Ghirlandajo  as  a 
regular  pupil,  and  bound  to  him  for  three  years  ; 
and  such  was  the  precocious  talent  of  the  boy,  that 
instead  of  being  paid  for  his  instruction,  Ghirlan- 
dajo undertook  to  pay  the  father,  Lionardo  Buona- 
roti,  for  the  first,  second,  and  third  years,  six, 
eight,  and  twelve  golden  florins,  as  payment  for  the 
advantage  he  expected  to  derive  from  the  labor  of 
the  son.  Thus  was  the  vocation  of  the  young  artisi 
decided  for  life. 

At  that  time  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent  reigneo 
over  Florence.  He  had  formed  in  his  palace  and 
gardens  a  collection  of  antique  marbles,  busts, 
statues,  fragments,  which  he  had  converted  into 
an  academy  for  the  use  of  young  artists,  placing 
at  the  head  of  it  as  director  a  sculptor  of  some 
eminence,  named  Bertoldo.  Michael  Angelo  was 
one  of  the  first  who,  through  the  recommendation 
of  Ghirlandajo,  was  received  into  this  new  acade- 
my, afterwards  so  famous  and  so  memorable  in  the 
history  of  art.  The  young  man,  then  not  quite 
sixteen,  had  hitherto  occupied  himself  chiefly  in 
drawing  ;  but  now,  fired  by  the  beauties  he  beheld 
around  him,  and  by  the  example  and  success  of  a 
fellow-pupil,  Torregiano,  he  set  himself  to  model  in 
clay,  and  at  length  to  copy  in  marble  what  was 
before  him  ;  but,  as  was  natural  in  a  character 
and  genius  so  steeped  in  individuality,  his  copies 


MICHAEL  ANGELO. 


196 


became  not  so  much  imitations  of  form  as  original 
embody  ings  of  the  leading  idea,  and  Lorenzo  de' 
Medici,  struck  by  his  extraordinary  power,  sent  for 
his  father  and  offered  to  attach  the  boy  to  his  own 
particular  service,  and  to  undertake  the  entire  care 
of  his  education.  The  father  consented,  on  condi- 
tion of  receiving  for  himself  an  office  under  the 
government ;  and  thenceforth  Michael  Angelo  was 
lodged  in  the  palace  of  the  Medici,  and  treated  by 
Lorenzo  as  his  son. 

Such  sudden  and  increasing  favor  excited  the 
envy  and  jealousy  of  his  companions,  particularly 
of  Torregiano,  who,  being  of  a  violent  and  arrogant 
temper  (that  of  Michael  Angelo  was  by  no  means 
conciliating),  sought  every  means  of  showing  his 
hatred.  On  one  occasion,  a  quarrel  having  ensued 
while  they  were  at  work  together,  Torregiano  turned 
in  fury  and  struck  his  rival  a  blow  with  his  mallet, 
which  disfigured  him  for  life.  His  nose  was  flat- 
tened to  his  face,  and  Torregiano,  having  by  this 
"sacrilegious  stroke"  gratified  his  hatred,  was 
banished  from  Florence. 

It  is  fair,  however,  to  give  Torregiano's  own  ac- 
count of  this  incident  as  he  related  it  to  Benvenuto 
Cellini,  many  years  afterwards.  "  This  Buonaroti 
and  I,  when  we  were  young  men,  went  to  study  in 
the  church  of  the  Carmelites,  in  the  chapel  of  Ma- 
saccio.  It  was  customary  with  Buonaroti  to  rally 
those  who  were  learning  to  draw  there.  One  day, 
among  others,  a  sarcasm  of  his  having  stung  me  to 


196  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


the  quick,  I  was  extremely  irritated,  and,  doubling 
my  fist,  gave  him  such  a  violent  blow  on  the  nose 
that  I  felt  the  bone  and  cartilage  yield  as  if  they 
had  been  made  of  paste,  and  the  mark  I  then  gave 
him  he  will  carry  to  his  grave." 

Thus  it  appears  that  the  blow  was  not  unpro- 
voked, and  that  Michael  Angelo,  even  at  the  age 
of  sixteen,  indulged  in  that  contemptuous  arro- 
gance and  sarcastic  speech  which,  in  his  maturer 
age,  made  him  so  many  enemies.    But  to  return. 

Michael  Angelo  continued  his  studies  under  the 
auspices  of  Lorenzo ;  but  just  as  he  had  reached 
his  eighteenth  year  he  lost  his  generous  patron,  his 
second  father,  and  was  thenceforth  thrown  on  his 
own  resources.  It  is  true  that  the  son  of  Lorenzo, 
Piero  de'  Medici,  continued  -to  extend  his  favor  to 
the  young  artist,  but  with  so  little  comprehension 
of  his  genius  and  character,  that  on  one  occasion, 
during  a  severe  winter,  he  sent  him  to  form  a  statue 
of  snow  for  the  amusement  of  his  guests. 

Michael  Angelo,  while  he  yielded,  perforce,  to 
the  caprices  of  his  protector,  turned  the  energies  of 
his  mind  to  a  new  study  —  that  of  anatomy  —  and 
pursued  it  with  all  that  fervor  which  belonged  to 
his  character.  His  attention  was  at  the  same  time 
directed  to  literature,  by  the  counsels  and  conver- 
sations of  a  very  celebrated  scholar  and  poet,  then 
residing  in  the  court  of  Piero —  Angelo  Poliziano  ; 
and  he  pursued  at  the  same  time  the  cultivation  of 
his  mind  and  the  practice  of  his  art.  Engrossed 


MICHAEL  ANGELO. 


19? 


by  his  own  studies,  he  was  scarcely  aware  of  what 
was  passing  around  him,  nor  of  the  popular  in- 
trigues which  were  preparing  the  ruin  of  the 
Medici.  Suddenly  this  powerful  family  were  flung 
from  sovereignty  to  temporary  disgrace  and  exile  ; 
and  Michael  Angelo,  as  one  of  their  retainers,  was 
obliged  to  fly  from  Florence,  and  took  refuge  in  the 
city  of  Bologna.  During  the  year  he  spent  there 
he  found  a  friend  who  employed  him  on  some  works 
of  sculpture ;  and  on  his  return  to  Florence  he  exe- 
cuted a  Cupid  in  marble,  of  such  beauty  that  it 
found  its  way  into  the  cabinet  of  the  Duchess  of 
Mantua  as  a  real  antique.  On  the  discovery  that 
the  author  of  this  beautiful  statue  was  a  young  man 
of  two-and- twenty,  the  Cardinal  San  Giorgio  in- 
vited him  to  Rome,  and  for  some  time  lodged  him 
in  his  palace.  Here  Michael  Angelo,  surrounded 
and  inspired  by  the  grand  remains  of  antiquity, 
pursued  his  studies  with  unceasing  energy.  He 
produced  a  statue  of  Bacchus,  which  added  to  his 
reputation ;  and  the  group  of  the  dead  Christ  on 
the  knees  of  his  Virgin  Mother  (called  the  Piela), 
which  is  now  in  the  church  of  St.  Peter's,  at  Rome.* 

*  This  Pieta  is  the  only  work  whereon  Michael  Angelo  inscribed 
his  name,  which  he  has  carved  distinctly  on  the  girdle  of  the  Virgin, 
The  circumstance  which  induced  him  to  do  this  is  curious.  Some 
time  after  the  group  was  fixed  in  its  place,  he  was  standing  before  it 
considering  its  effect,  when  two  strangers  entered  the  church,  and 
began,  even  in  his  hearing,  to  dispute  concerning  the  author  of  the 
work,  which  they  agreed  in  exalting  to  the  skies  as  a  masterpiece. 
One  of  them,  who  was  a  Bolognese,  insisted  that  it  was  by  a  sculptor 


198 


BA.RLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


This  last,  being  frequently  copied  and  imitated,  ob~ 
tained  him  so  much  applause  and  reputation,  that 
he  was  recalled  to  Florence,  to  undertake  several 
public  works,  and  found  himself  once  more  estab- 
lished in  his  native  city  about  the  year  1504. 

Hitherto  we  have  seen  Michael  Angelo  wholly 
devoted  to  the  study  and  practice  of  sculpture  ;  but 
soon  after  his  return  to  Florence  he  was  called  upon 
to  compete  with  Lionardo  da  Vinci  in  executing  the 
cartoons  for  the  frescoes  with  which  it  was  intended 
to  decorate  the  walls  of  the  Palazzo  Vecchio,  or 
town-hall  of  Florence.  The  cartoon  of  Lionardo 
has  been  already  described.  That  of  Michael  An- 
gelo represented  an  incident  which  occurred  during 
the  siege  of  Pisa, — a  group  of  Florentine  soldiers 
bathing  in  the  Arno  hear  the  trumpet  which  pro- 
claims a  sortie  of  the  enemy,  and  spring  at  once  to 
the  combat.  He  chose  this  subject,  perhaps,  as 
affording  ample  opportunity  to  exhibit  his  peculiar 
and  wonderful  skill  in  designing  the  human  figure. 
All  is  life  and  movement.  The  warriors,  some 
already  clothed,  but  the  greater  part  undressed, 
hasten  to  obey  the  call  to  battle  ;  they  are  seen 
clambering  up  the  banks  —  buckling  on  their  armor 

rushing  forward,  hurriedly,  eagerly.  There  are, 
altogether,  about  thirty  figures,  the  size  of  life, 

of  Bologna,  whom  he  named.  Michael  Angelo  listened  in  silence, 
and  the  next  night,  when  all  slept,  he  entered  the  church,  and  by 
the  light  of  a  lantern  engraved  his  name,  in  deep,  indelible  charac* 
ters,  where  it  might  best  be  seen. 


MICHAEL  ANGELO. 


199 


drawn  with  black  chalk,  and  relieved  with  white. 
This  cartoon  was  regarded  by  his  contemporaries  as 
the  most  perfect  of  his  works  ;  that  is,  in  respect  to 
the  execution  merely :  as  to  subject,  sentiment, 
and  character,  it  would  not  certainly  rank  with  the 
finest  of  his  works  ;  for,  with  every  possible  variety 
of  gesture  and  attitude,  exhibited  with  admirable 
and  lifelike  energy  and  the  most  consummate 
knowledge  of  form,  there  was  only  one  expression 
throughout,  and  that  the  least  intellectual,  majes- 
tic, or  interesting  —  the  expression  of  hurry  and 
surprise.  While  this  great  work  existed,  it  was  a 
study  for  all  the  young  artists  of  Italy.  But 
Michael  Angelo,  who  had  suffered  in  person  from 
the  jealousy  of  one  rival,  was  destined  to  suffer  yet 
more  cruelly  from  the  envy  of  another.  It  is  said 
that  Bandinelli,  the  sculptor,  profited  by  the 
troubles  of  Florence  to  tear  in  pieces  this  monument 
of  the  glory  and  genius  of  a  man  he  detested  ;  but 
in  doing  so  he  has  only  left  an  enduring  stain  upon 
his  own  fame.  A  small  old  copy  of  the  principal 
part  of  the  composition  exists  in  the  collection  of 
the  Earl  of  Leicester,  at  Holkham,  and  has  been 
finely  engraved  by  Schiavonetti. 

The  next  work  in  which  Michael  Angelo  was  en- 
gaged was  the  tomb  of  Pope  Julius  II.,  who,  while 
living,  had  conceived  the  idea  of  erecting  a  most 
splendid  monument  to  perpetuate  his  memory.  For 
this  work,  which  was  never  completed,  Michael 
Angelo  executed  the  famous  statue  of  Moses,  seated. 


200 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


grasping  his  flowing  beard  with  one  hand,  ana 
with  the  other  sustaining  the  tables  of  the  law. 
While  employed  on  this  tomb,  the  pope  commanded 
him  to  undertake  also  the  decoration  of  the  ceiling 
of  the  Sistine  Chapel.  The  reader  may  remember 
that  Pope  Sixtus  IV*,  in  the  year  1473,  erected 
his  famous  chapel,  and  summoned  the  best  painters 
of  that  time,  Signorelli,  Cosimo  Roselli,  Perugino, 
and  Ghirlandajo,  to  decorate  the  interior.  But 
down  to  the  year  1508  the  ceiling  remained  with-* 
out  any  ornament ;  and  Michael  Angelo  was  called 
upon  to  cover  this  enormous  vault,  a  space  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  length  by  fifty  in  breadth, 
with  a  series  of  subjects,  representing  the  most  im- 
portant events  connected,  either  literally  or  typi- 
cally, with  the  fall  and  redemption  of  mankind. 

No  part  of  Michael  Angelo 's  long  life  is  so  inter- 
esting, so  full  of  characteristic  incident,  as  the  his- 
tory of  his  intercourse  with  Pope  Julius  II.,  which 
began  in  1505,  and  ended  only  with  the  death  of 
the  pope,  in  1513. 

Michael  Angelo  had  at  all  times  a  lofty  idea  of 
his  own  dignity  as  an  artist,  and  never  would  stoop 
either  to  flatter  a  patron  or  to  conciliate  a  rival. 
Julius  II.,  though  now  seventy-four,  was  as  im- 
patient of  contradiction,  as  fiery  in  temper  as  full 
of  magnificent  and  ambitious  projects,  as  if  he  had 
been  in  the  prime  of  life.  In  his  service  was  the 
famous  architect  Bramante,  who  beheld  with  jeal- 
ousy and  alarm  the  increasing  fame  of  Michael 


MICHAEL  ANGELO. 


201 


Angelo  and  his  influence  with  the  pontiff,  and  set 
himself  by  indirect  means  to  lessen  both.  He  in- 
sinuated to  Julius  that  it  was  ominous  to  erect  his 
own  mausoleum  during  his  lifetime,  and  the  pope 
gradually  fell  off  in  his  attentions  to  Michael  An- 
gelo, and  neglected  to  supply  him  with  the  neces- 
sary funds  for  carrying  on  the  work.  On  one 
occasion,  Michael  Angelo,  finding  it  difficult  to  ob- 
tain access  to  the  pope,  sent  a  message  to  him  to 
this  effect,  "  that  henceforth,  if  his  holiness  desired 
to  see  him,  he  should  send  to  seek  him  elsewhere  ;  " 
and  the  same  night,  leaving  orders  with  his  servants 
to  dispose  of  his  property,  he  departed  for  Florence. 
The  pope  dispatched  five  couriers  after  him  with 
threats,  persuasions,  promises,  —  but  in  vain.  He 
wrote  to  the  Gonfaloniere  Soderini,  then  at  the 
head  of  the  government  of  Florence,  commanding 
him,  on  pain  of  his  extreme  displeasure,  to  send 
Michael  Angelo  back  to  him ;  but  the  inflexible 
artist  absolutely  refused.  Three  months  were  spent 
in  vain  negotiations.  Soderini,  at  length,  fearing 
the  pope's  anger,  prevailed  on  Michael  Angelo  to 
return,  and  sent  with  him  his  relation  Cardinal 
Soderini  to  make  up  the  quarrel  between  the  high 
contending  powers.  The  pope  was  then  at  Bologna, 
and  at  the  moment  when  Michael  Angelo  arrived  he 
was  at  supper.  He  desired  him  to  be  brought  into 
his  presence,  and,  on  seeing  him,  exclaimed,  in  a 
transport  of  fury,  "  Instead  of  obeying  our  com- 
mands and  coming  to  us,  thou  hast  waited  till  we 


202  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTEltS. 


came  in  search  of  thee !  ' '  (Bologna  being  much 
nearer  to  Florence  than  to  Rome.)  Michael  An 
gelo  fell  on  his  knees,  and  entreated  pardon  with  a 
loud  voice.  "  Holy  father,"  said  he,  "  my  offence 
has  not  arisen  from  an  evil  nature ;  I  could  no 
longer  endure  the  insults  offered  to  me  in  the  palace 
of  your  holiness!  "  He  remained  kneeling,  and 
the  pope  continued  to  bend  his  brows  in  silence, 
when  a  certain  bishop  in  attendance  on  the  Cardi- 
nal Soderini,  thinking  to  mend  the  matter,  inter- 
fered with  excuses,  representing  that  "  Michael 
Angelo  —  poor  man  !  —  had  erred  through  igno- 
rance ;  that  artists  were  wont  to  presume  too  much 
on  their  genius,"  and  so  forth.  The  irascible  pope, 
interrupting  him  with  a  sharp  blow  across  the 
shoulders  with  his  staff,  exclaimed,  "  It  is  thou  that 
art  ignorant  and  presuming,  to  insult  him  whom  we 
feel  ourselves  bound  to  honor.  Take  thyself  out 
of  our  sight !  "  And,  as  the  terrified  prelate  stood 
transfixed  with  amazement,  the  pope's  attendants 
forced  him  out  of  the  room.  Julius  then,  turning 
to  Michael  Angelo,  gave  him  his  forgiveness  and 
his  blessing,  and  commanded  him  never  again  to 
leave  him,  promising  him  on  all  occasions  his  favor 
and  protection.  This  extraordinary  scene  took 
place  in  November,  1506. 

The  work  on  the  tomb  was  not,  however,  imme- 
diately resumed.  Michael  Angelo  was  commanded 
to  execute  a  colossal  statue  of  the  pope,  to  be 
erected  in  front  of  the  principal  church  of  Bologna. 


MICHAEL  ANGELO. 


He  threw  into  the  figure  and  attitude  so  much  of 
the  haughty  and  resolute  character  of  the  original, 
that  Julius,  on  seeing  the  model,  asked  him,  with 
a  smile,  whether  he  intended  to  represent  him  as 
blessing  or  as  cursing.  To  which  Michael  Angelo 
prudently  replied,  that  he  intended  to  represent  his 
holiness  as  admonishing  the  inhabitants  of  Bologna 
to  obedience  and  submission.  "  And  what,"  said 
the  pope,  well  pleased,  "  wilt  thou  put  in  the  other 
hand  ?  "  —  "A  book,  may  it  please  your  holiness." 
—  "  A  book,  man!  "  exclaimed  the  pope  :  "  put 
rather  a  sword.  Thou  knowest  I  am  no  scholar." 
The  fate  of  this  statue,  however  we  may  lament  it, 
was  fitting  and  characteristic.  A  few  years  after- 
wards, the  populace  of  Bologna  rebelled  against  the 
popedom,  flung  down  the  statue  of  Julius,  and  out 
of  the  fragments  was  constructed  a  cannon,  which, 
from  its  origin,  was  styled  La  Giuliana. 

On  his  return  to  Rome,  Michael  Angelo  wished 
to  have  resumed  his  work  on  the  mausoleum  ;  but 
the  pope  had  resolved  on  the  completion  of  the 
Sistine  Chapel.  He  commanded  Michael  Angelo 
to  undertake  the  decoration  of  the  vaulted  ceiling  ; 
and  the  artist  was  obliged,  though  reluctantly,  to 
obey.  At  this  time  the  frescoes  which  Raphael 
and  his  pupils  were  painting  in  the  chambers  of  the 
Vatican  had  excited  the  admiration  of  all  Rome. 
Michael  Angelo,  who  had  never  exercised  himself 
in  the  mechanical  part  of  the  art  of  fresco,  invited 
from  Florence  several  painters  of  eminence,  to  ex- 


204.  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 

ecute  his  designs  under  his  own  superintendence , 
but  they  could  not  reach  the  grandeur  of  his  con- 
ceptions, which  became  enfeebled  under  their 
hands  ;  and,  one  morning,  in  a  mood  of  impatience, 
he  destroyed  all  that  they  had  done,  closed  the 
doors  of  the  chapel  against  them,  and  would  not 
thenceforth  admit  them  to  his  presence.  He  then 
shut  himself  up,  and  proceeded  with  incredible  per- 
severance and  energy  to  accomplish  his  task  alone  ; 
he  even  prepared  his  own  colors  with  his  own  hands. 
He  began  with  the  end  towards  the  door ;  and  in 
the  two  compartments  first  painted  (though  not 
first  in  the  series) ,  the  Deluge,  and  the  Vineyard 
of  Noah,  he  made  the  figures  too  numerous  and  too 
small  to  produce  their  full  effect  from  below,  —  a 
fault  which  he  corrected  in  those  executed  subse- 
quently. When  almost  half  the  work  was  com- 
pleted, the  pope  insisted  on  viewing  what  was  done, 
and  the  astonishment  and  admiration  it  excited 
rendered  him  more  and  more  eager  to  have  the 
whole  completed  at  once.  The  progress,  however, 
was  not  rapid  enough  to  suit  the  impatient  temper 
of  the  pontiff.  On  one  occasion  he  demanded  of 
the  artist  when  he  meant  to  finish  it,  to  which 
Michael  Angelo  replied,  calmly,  "  When  I  can." 
— ' 4  When  thou  canst!  "  exclaimed  the  fiery  old 
pope.  "  Thou  hast  a  mind  that  I  should  have  thee 
thrown  from  the  scaffold!  "  At  length,  on  the 
day  of  All  Saints,  1512,  the  ceiling  was  uncovered 
to  public  view.    Michael  Angelo  had  employed  on 


MICHAEL  ANGELO. 


205 


the  paint'.ng  only,  without  reckoning  the  time  spent 
in  preparing  the  cartoons,  twenty-two  months,  and 
he  received  in  payment  three  thousand  crowns. 

To  describe  this  grand  work  in  all  its  details, 
would  occupy  many  pages.  It  will  give  some  idea 
of  its  immensity  to  say  that  it  contains  in  all  up- 
wards of  two  hundred  figures,  the  greater  part  of 
colossal  size  ;  and  that  with  regard  to  invention, 
grandeur,  and  expression,  it  has  been  a  school  for 
study,  and  a  theme  for  wonder,  during  three  suc- 
cessive ages.  In  the  centre  of  the  ceiling  are  four 
large  compartments  and  five  small  ones.  In  the 
former  are  represented  the  Creation  of  the  Sun  and 
Moon  ;  the  Creation  of  Adam,  perhaps  the  most 
majestic  design  that  was  ever  conceived  by  the 
genius  of  man  ;  the  Fall  and  the  Expulsion  from 
Paradise  ;  the  Deluge.  In  the  five  small  compart- 
ments are  represented  the  Gathering  of  the  Waters 
(Gen.  1:9);  the  Almighty  separating  Light  from 
Darkness  ;  the  Creation  of  Eve  ;  the  Sacrifice  of 
Noah,  and  Noah's  Vineyard.*  Around  these,  in  the 
curved  part  of  the  ceiling,  are  the  Prophets  and  the 
Sibyls  who  foretold  the  birth  of  Christ.  These  are 
among  the  most  wonderful  forms  that  modern  art 
has  called  into  life.  They  are  all  seated  and  em- 
ployed in  contemplating  books  or  antique  rolls  of 
manuscript,  with  genii  in  attendance.  These  mighty 
beings  sit  before  us,  looking  down  with  solemn  med- 
itative aspects,  or  upwards  with  inspired  looks  that 
see  into  futurity.    All  their  forms  are  massive  and 


206  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


sublime,  all  are  full  of  varied  and  individual  char 
acter. 

Beneath  these  again  are  a  series  of  groups  repre- 
senting the  earthly  genealogy  of  Christ,  in  which 
the  figures  have  a  repose,  a  contemplative  grace  and 
tenderness,  which  place  them  among  the  most  inter- 
esting of  all  the  productions  of  Michael  Angolo. 
These  and  the  figure  of  Eve  in  the  Fall  show  how 
intense  was  his  feeling  of  beauty,  though  he  fre- 
quently disdained  to  avail  himself  of  it.  In  the 
four  corners  of  the  ceiling  are  representations  of 
the  miraculous  deliverance  of  the  people  of  Israel,  in 
allusion  to  the  general  redemption  of  man  by  the 
Saviour,  namely,  Holofernes  vanquished  by  Judith, 
David  overcoming  Goliath,  the  Brazen  Serpent,  and 
the  Punishment  of  Haman. 

There  is  a  small  print  in  Kugler's  Hand-book, 
which  will  give  a  general  idea  of  the  arrangement 
of  this  famous  ceiling.  There  is  one  on  a  large 
scale  by  Piroli,  and  a  still  larger  one  by  Cunego, 
which,  if  accessible,  will  answer  the  purpose  bet- 
ter. In  our  National  School  of  Design,  at  Somerset 
House,  there  is  an  admirable  colored  drawing  lately 
brought  from  Rome  by  Mr.  L.  Griiner,  which  will 
convey  a  very  correct  idea  not  merely  of  the  ar- 
rangement of  the  subjects  and  figures,  but  of  the 
harmonious  disposition  of  the  colors —  a  merit  not 
usually  allowed  to  Michael  Angelo. 

The  collection  of  engravings  after  Michael  Angelo 
in  the  British  Museum  is  very  imperfect,  but  it  con- 


MICHAEL  ANGELO. 


207 


tains  some  fine  old  prints  from  the  Prophets,  which 
should  be  studied  by  those  who  wish  to  understand 
the  true  merit  of  this  great  master,  of  whom  Sir 
Joshua  Reynolds  said  that  "  to  kiss  the  hem  of  his 
garment,  to  catch  the  slightest  of  his  perfections, 
would  be  glory  and  distinction  enough  for  an  ambi 
tious  man  !  " 

When  the  Sistine  Chapel  was  completed  Michael 
Angelo  was  in  his  thirty-ninth  year  ;  fifty  years  of 
a  glorious  though  troubled  career  were  still  beforo 
him. 

Pope  Julius  II.  died  in  1513,  and  was  succeeded 
by  Leo  X.,  the  son  of  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent.  As 
a  Florentine  and  his  father's  son,  we  might  natu- 
rally have  expected  that  he  would  have  gloried  in 
patronizing  and  employing  Michael  Angelo  ;  but 
such  was  not  the  case.  There  was  something  in 
the  stern,  unbending  character,  and  retired  and 
abstemious  habits  of  Michael  Angelo,  repulsive  to 
the  temper  of  Leo,  who  preferred  the  graceful  and 
amiable  Raphael,  then  in  the  prime  of  his  life  and 
genius.  Hence  arose  the  memorable  rivalry  between 
Michael  Angelo  and  Raphael,  which  on  the  part  of 
the  latter  was  merely  generous  emulation,  while  it 
must  be  confessed  that  something  like  bitterness 
and  envy,  or  at  least  scorn,  mingled  with  the  feel- 
ings of  Michael  Angelo.  The  pontificate  of  Leo  X., 
an  interval  of  ten  years,  was  the  least  productive 
period  of  his  life.  He  was  sent  to  Florence,  to 
superintend  the  building  of  the  church  of  San  Lo* 


208 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


renzo  and  the  completion  of  Santa  Croce  ;  but  he 
differed  with  the  pope  on  the  choice  of  the  marble, 
quarrelled  with  the  officials,  and  scarcely  anything 
was  accomplished.  Clement  VII.,  another  Medici, 
was  elected  pope  in  1523.  He  was  the  son  of  that 
Giuliano  de'  Medici  who  was  assassinated  by  the 
Pazzi  in  1478.  He  had  conceived  the  idea  of  con- 
secrating a  chapel  in  the  church  of  San  Lorenzo,  to 
receive  the  tombs  of  his  ancestors  and  relations,  and 
which  should  be  adorned  with  all  the  splendors  of 
art.  Michael  Angelo  planned  and  built  the  chapel, 
and  for  its  interior  decoration  designed  and  exe- 
cuted six  of  his  greatest  works  in  sculpture.  Two 
are  seated  statues  :  one  representing  Lorenzo  de' 
Medici,  Duke  of  Urbino,  who  died  young,  in  1519, 
living  only  to  be  the  father  of  Catherine  de'  Medici 
(and,  as  it  has  been  well  said,  "  had  an  evil  spirit 
assumed  the  human  shape  to  propagate  mischief, 
he  could  not  have  done  better  ")  ;  the  other,  oppo- 
site, his  cousin  Giuliano  de'  Medici,  who  was  as 
weak  as  Lorenzo  was  vicious.  The  other  four  are 
colossal  recumbent  figures,  entitled  the  Night,  the 
Morning,  the  Dawn,  and  the  Twilight  ;  though 
wThy  so  called,  and  why  these  figures  were  intro- 
duced in  such  a  situation  —  what  was  the  inten- 
tion, the  meaning  of  the  artist  —  does  not  seem  to 
be  understood  by  any  of  the  critics  on  art  who  have 
written  on  the  subject.  The  statue  of  Lorenzo  i? 
almost  awful  in  its  sullen  grandeur.  He  look? 
down  in  a  contemplative  attitude  ;  hence  the  ap- 


MICHAEL  ANGELO. 


209 


pellation  by  which  the  figure  is  known  in  Italy  — 
II  Pensiero  {Thought  or  Meditation).  But  there  is 
mischief  in  the  look  —  something  vague,  ominous, 
difficult  to  be  described.  Altogether  it  well-nigh 
realizes  our  idea  of  Milton's  Satan  brooding  over 
his  infernal  plans  for  the  ruin  of  mankind.  Mr. 
Rogers  styles  it  truly  "  the  most  real  and  unreal 
thing  that  ever  came  from  the  chisel."  And  his 
description  of  the  whole  chapel  is  as  vivid  as  poetry 
and  as  accurate  as  truth  could  make  it  : 

"  Nor  then  forget  that  chamber  of  the  dead 
Where  the  gigantic  shades  of  Night  and  Day, 
Turned  into  stone,  rest  everlastingly. 

There  from  age  to  age 
Two  ghosts  are  sitting  on  their  sepulchres. 
That  is  the  Duke  Lorenzo.    Mark  him  well ! 
He  meditates  ;  his  head  upon  his  hand. 
What  from  beneath  his  helm-like  bonnet  scowls  ? 
Is  it  a  face,  or  but  an  eyeless  skull  ? 
'T  is  lost  in  shade  —  yet,  like  the  basilisk, 
It  fascinates  and  is  intolerable." 

While  Michael  Angelo  was  engaged  in  these  works 
his  progress  was  interrupted  by  events  which  threw 
all  Italy  into  commotion.  Rome  was  taken  and 
sacked  by  the  Constable  de  Bourbon,  in  1537.  The 
Medici  were  once  more  expelled  from  Florence,  and 
Michael  Angelo,  in  the  midst  of  these  strange  vicis- 
situdes, was  employed  by  the  republic  to  fortify  his 
native  city  against  his  former  patrons.  Great  as 
an  engineer  as  in  every  other  department  of  art  and 
14 


210 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


science,  he  defended  Florence  for  nine  months.  At 
length  the  city  was  given  up  by  treachery,  and, 
fearing  the  vengeance  of  the  conquerors,  Michael 
Angelo  fled  and  concealed  himself ;  but  Clement 
VII.  was  too  sensible  of  his  merit  to  allow  him  to 
remain  long  in  disgrace  and  exile.  He  was  par- 
doned, and  continued  ever  afterwards  in  high  favor 
with  the  pope,  who  employed  him  on  the  sculptures 
in  the  chapel  of  San  Lorenzo  during  the  remainder 
of  his  pontificate. 

Clement  VII.  was  succeeded  by  Pope  Paul  III., 
of  the  Earnese  family,  in  1534.  This  pope,  though 
nearly  seventy  when  he  was  elected,  was  as  anxious 
to  immortalize  his  name  by  great  undertakings  as 
any  of  his  predecessors  had  been  before  him.  His 
first  wish  was  to  complete  the  decoration  of  the 
interior  of  the  Sistine  Chapel,  left  unfinished  by 
Julius  II.  and  Leo  X.  He  summoned  Michael  An- 
gelo, who  endeavored  to  excuse  himself,  pleading 
other  engagements  ;  but  the  pope  would  listen  to 
no  excuses  which  interfered  with  his  sovereign 
power  to  dissolve  all  other  obligations  ;  and  thus 
the  artist  found  himself,  after  an  interval  of  twenty 
years,  most  reluctantly  forced  to  abandon  sculpture 
for  painting ;  and,  as  Vasari  expresses  it,  he  con- 
sented to  serve  Pope  Paul  only  because  he  could  not 
do  otherwise. 

In  representing  the  Last  Judgment  on  the  wall 
of  the  upper  end  of  the  Sistine  Chapel,  Michael 


MICHAEL  ANGELO. 


211 


Angelo  only  adhered  to  the  original  plan  as  it  had 
been  adopted  by  Julius  II.,  and  afterwards  hy 
Clement  VII. 

In  the  centre  of  this  vast  composition  he  has 
placed  the  figure  of  the  Messiah  in  the  act  of  pro- 
nouncing the  sentence  of  condemnation,  "  Depart 
from  me,  ye  accursed,  into  everlasting  fire  ;  "  and 
by  his  side  the  Virgin  Mary  :  around  them,  on 
each  side,  the  apostles,  the  patriarchs,  the  prophets, 
and  a  company  of  saints  and  martyrs  :  above  these 
are  groups  of  angels  bearing  the  cross,  the  crown 
of  thorns,  and  other  instruments  of  the  passion  of 
our  Lord  ;  and  further  down  another  group  of 
angels  holding  the  book  of  life,  and  sounding  the 
awful  trumpets  which  call  up  the  dead  to  judg- 
ment. Below,  on  one  side,  the  resurrection  and 
ascent  of  the  blessed  ;  and,  on  the  other,  demons 
drag  down  the  condemned  to  everlasting  fire.  The 
number  of  figures  is  at  least  two  hundred.  Those 
who  wish  to  form  a  correct  idea  of  the  composition 
and  arrangement  should  consult  the  engravings. 
Several,  of  different  sizes  and  different  degrees  of 
excellence,  are  in  the  British  Museum. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  Michael  Angelo's 
Last  Judgment  is  the  grandest  picture  that  ever 
was  painted  —  the  greatest  effort  of  human  skill,  as 
a  creation  of  art ;  yet  is  it  full  of  faults  in  taste  and 
sentiment ;  and  the  greatest  fault  of  all  is  in  the 
conception  of  the  principal  personage,  the  Messiah 
as  judge.    The  figure,  expression,  attitude,  are  al] 


212 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


unworthy  —  one  might  almost  say  vulgar  in  tha 
worst  sense  ;  for  is  there  not  both  profaneness  and 
vulgarity  in  representing  the  merciful  Redeemer  of 
mankind,  even  when  he  "  comes  to  judgment,"  as 
inspired  merely  by  wrath  and  vengeance  ?  —  as  a 
thick-set  athlete,  who,  with  a  gesture  of  sullen 
anger,  is  about  to  punish  the  wicked  with  his  fist  ? 
It  has  been  already  observed  that  Michael  Angelo 
borrowed  the  idea  of  the  two  figures  of  the  Virgin 
and  Christ  from  the  old  fresco  of  Orcagna  in  the 
Campo  Santo  ;  but  in  improving  the  drawing  he 
has  wholly  lost  and  degraded  the  sentiment.  In 
the  groups  of  the  pardoned,  as  Kugler  has  well 
observed,  we  look  in  vain  for  "  the  glory  of  heaven 
—  for  beings  bearing  the  stamp  of  divine  holiness 
and  renunciation  of  human  weakness.  Everywhere 
we  meet  with  the  expression  of  human  passion 
human  efforts;  we  see  no  choir  of  solemn,  tranquil 
forms  —  no  harmonious  unity  of  clear,  grand  lines 
produced  by  ideal  draperies  ;  but  in  their  stead  a 
confused  crowd  of  naked  bodies  in  violent  attitudes, 
unaccompanied  by  any  of  the  characteristics  made 
sacred  by  holy  tradition."  On  the  other  hand,  the 
groups  of  the  condemned,  and  the  astonishing  en- 
ergy and  variety  of  the  struggling  and  suspended 
forms,  are  most  fearful ;  and  it  is  quite  true  that 
when  contemplated  from  a  distance  the  whole  rep- 
resentation fills  the  mind  with  wonder  and  myrteri- 
ous  horror.  It  was  intended  to  represent  the  defeat 
and  fall  of  the  rebel  angels  on  the  opposite  wall 


MICHAEL  ANGELO. 


215 


^above  and  on  each  side  of  the  principal  door) ,  but 
this  was  never  done  ;  and  the  intention  of  Michael 
Angelo  in  the  decoration  of  the  Sistine  Chapel  re- 
mains incomplete.  The  picture  of  the  Last  Judg 
ment  was  finished  and  first  exhibited  to  the  peoplt 
oL  Christmas  day,  1451,  under  the  pontificate  of 
Paul  III.  Michael  Angelo  was  then  in  his  sixty- 
seventh  year,  and  had  been  employed  on  the  paint- 
ing and  cartoons  nearly  nine  years. 

The  same  Pope  Paul  III.  had,  in  the  mean  time, 
constructed  a  beautiful  chapel,  which  was  called 
after  his  name  the  chapel  Paolina,  and  dedicated 
to  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul.  Michael  Angelo  was 
called  upon  to  design  the  decorations.  He  painted 
on  one  side  the  Conversion  of  St.  Paul,  and  on  the 
other  the  Crucifixion  of  St.  Peter.  But  these  fine 
paintings  —  of  which  existing  old  engravings  (to  be 
found  in  the  British  Museum)  give  a  better  idea  than 
the  blackened  and  faded  remains  of  the  original 
frescoes  —  were  from  the  first  ill-disposed  as  to  the 
locality,  and  badly  lighted,  and  at  present  they 
excite  little  interest  compared  with  the  more  famous 
works  in  the  Sistine. 

During  the  period  that  Michael  Angelo  was 
engaged  in  the  decoration  of  the  Pauline  Chapel, 
he  executed  a  group  in  marble  —  the  Virgin  with 
the  dead  Redeemer  and  two  other  figures  —  which 
was  never  completely  finished.  It  is  now  at 
Florence  behind  the  high  altar  of  the  church  si 


214 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


Santa  Croce.  It  is  full  of  tragic  grandeur  anc 
expression.* 

With  tLe  frescoes  in  the  Pauline  Chapel  ends 
Michael  Angelo's  career  as  a  painter.  Daring  the 
remainder  of  his  life,  a  period  of  sixteen  years,  we 
find  him  wholly  devoted  to  architecture.  His  vast 
and  daring  genius  finding  ample  scope  in  the  com- 
pletion of  St.  Peter's,  he  has  left  behind  him  in  his 
capacity  of  architect  yet  greater  marvels  than  he 
had  achieved  as  painter  and  sculptor.  Who  that  has 
seen  the  cupola  of  St.  Peter's  soaring  into  the  skies, 
but  will  think  almost  with  awe  of  the  universal  and 
majestic  intellect  of  the  man  who  reared  it  ? 

There  is  a  striking  anecdote  of  Mrs.  Siddons> 
which  at  this  moment  comes  back  upon  the  mind. 
When  standing  before  the  Apollo  Belvedere,  then 
in  the  gallery  of  the  Louvre,  she  exclaimed,  after  a 
long  pause,  "  How  great  must  be  the  Being  who 
created  the  genius  which  produced  such  a  form  as 
this  !  "  —  a  thought  characteristic  of  her  mind,  but 

*  An  eye-witness  has  left  us  a  very  graphic  description  of  the 
energy  with  which,  even  in  old  age,  Michael  Angelo  handled  his 
chisel  :  "  I  can  say  that  I  have  seen  Michael  Angelo  at  the  age  of 
sixty,  and  with  a  body  announcing  weakness,  make  more  chips  of 
marble  fly  about  in  a  quarter  of  an  hour  than  would  three  of  the 
strongest  young  sculptors  in  an  hour,  —  a  thing  almost  incredible 
to  him  who  has  not  beheld  it.  lie  went  to  work  with  such  impetu- 
osity and  fury  of  manner,  that  I  feared  almost  every  moment  to  see 
uhe  block  split  into  pieces.  It  would  seem  as  if,  inflamed  by  the 
idea  of  greatness  which  inspired  him,  this  great  man  attacked  with 
a  species  of  fury  the  marble  which  concealed  the  statue."  —  Blaise 
de  Vigentre. 


MICHAEL  ANGELO. 


215 


more  fitly  inspired  by  the  works  of  Michael  Angelo 
than  by  those  of  any  artist  the  world  has  yet  seen. 
They  bear  impressed  upon  them  a  character  of  great- 
ness, of  durability,  of  sublimity  of  invention,  and 
consummate  skill  in  contrivance,  which  fills  the  con- 
templative mind,  and  leads  it  irresistibly  from  the 
created  up  to  the  Creator. 

As  our  subject  is  painting,  not  architecture,  we 
shall  not  dwell  much  on  this  period  of  the  life  of 
Michael  Angelo.  In  the  year  1544,  being  then  in 
his  seventy-second  year,  he  was  appointed  to  the 
office  of  chief  architect  of  St.  Peter's  by  Pope  Paul 
III.,  and  he  continued  to  discharge  it  through  the 
pontificates  of  Julius  III.,  Pius  IV.,  and  Pius  V. 
He  accepted  the  office  with  reluctance,  pleading  his 
great  age,  and  the  obstacles  and  difficulties  he  was 
likely  to  meet  with  from  the  jealousies  and  intrigues 
of  his  rivals,  and  the  ignorance  and  intermeddling 
of  the  pope's  officials.  He  solemnly  called  heaven 
to  witness  that  it  was  only  from  a  deep  sense  of  duty 
that  he  yielded  to  the  pope's  wishes  ;  and  he  proved 
that  this  was  no  empty  profession  by  constantly  re- 
fusing any  salary  or  remuneration.  Notwithstand- 
ing the  difficulties  he  encountered,  the  provocations 
and  the  disgusts  most  intolerable  to  his  haughty 
and  impatient  spirit,  he  held  on  his  way  with  a  stern 
perseverance  till  he  had  seen  his  great  designs  so  far 
carried  out  that  they  could  not  be  wholly  abandoned 
or  perverted  by  his  successors.* 

*  This,  however,  applies  only  to  the  stupendous  dome.  His  design 


216 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


When  his  sovereign  the  Grand  Duke  ot  Florence 
endeavored,  by  the  most  munificent  offers  and  prom- 
ises, to  attract  him  to  his  court,  he  constantly 
pleaded  that  to  leave  his  great  work  unaccom- 
plished would  be,  on  his  part,  "  a  sin,  a  shame 
and  the  ruin  of  the  greatest  religious  monument 
in  Christian  Europe."  Michael  Angelo  considered 
that  he  was  engaged  in  a  work  of  piety,  and  for 
this  reason,  "  for  his  own  honor  and  the  honor  of 
God,"  he  refused  all  emolument. 

It  appears,  from  the  evidence  of  contemporary 
writers,  that  in  the  last  years  of  his  life  the  ac 
knowledged  worth  and  genius  of  Michael  Angelo, 
his  wide-spread  fame,  and  his  unblemished  integrity, 
combined  with  his  venerable  age  and  the  haughtiness 
and  reserve  of  his  deportment  to  invest  him  with  a 
sort  of  princely  dignity.  It  is  recorded  that  when  he 
waited  on  Pope  Julius  III.  to  receive  his  commands, 
the  pontiff  rose  on  his  approach,  seated  him,  in  spite 
of  his  excuses,  on  his  right  hand  ;  and  while  a  crowd 
of  cardinals,  prelates,  ambassadors,  were  standing 
round  at  humble  distance,  carried  on  the  confer- 
ence, as  equal  with  equal.  The  Grand  Duke  Cosmo 
I.  always  uncovered  in  his  presence,  and  stood  with 
his  hat  in  his  hand  while  speaking  to  him. 

One  of  the  most  beautiful  anecdotes  recorded  of 
Michael  Angelo  in  his  later  years,  and  one  of  the 
very  few  amiable  traits  in  his  character,  was  his 

for  the  facade,  and  even  the  original  form  of  the  church,  having  been 
aubsequently  altered. 


MICHAEL  ANGELO. 


217 


strong  and  generous  attachment  to  his  old  servant 
Urbino.  One  day,  as  Urbino  stood  by  him  while  ho 
worked,  he  said  to  him,  "  My  poor  Urbino  !  what 
wilt  thou  do  when  I  am  gone?  " — "  Alas  !  "  replied 
Urbino,  "  1  must  then  seek  another  master!  "  — 
"  No,"  replied  Michael  Angelo,  "  that  shall  never 
be  !  "  and  he  immediately  presented  him  with  two 
thousand  crowns,  thus  rendering  him  independent 
of  himself  and  others.  Urbino,  however,  continued 
in  his  service  ;  and  when  seized  with  his  last  illness, 
Michael  Angelo,  the  stern,  the  sarcastic,  the  over- 
bearing Michael  Angelo,  nursed  him  with  the  ten- 
derness and  patience  of  a  mother,  sleeping  in  his 
clothes  on  a  couch  that  he  might  be  ever  near  him. 
The  old  man  died,  at  last,  leaving  his  master  almost 
inconsolable.  "  My  Urbino  is  dead,"  he  writes  to 
Vasari,  "  to  my  infinite  grief  and  sorrow.  Living, 
he  served  me  truly,  and  in  his  death  he  taught  me 
how  to  die.  I  have  now  no  other  hope  than  to 
rejoin  him  in  Paradise  !  " 

The  arrogance  imputed  to  Michael  Angelo  seems 
rather  to  have  arisen  from  a  contempt  for  others, 
than  from  any  overweening  opinion  of  himself.  He 
was  too  proud  to  be  vain.  He  had  placed  his  stan- 
dard of  perfection  so  high,  that  to  the  latest  hour 
of  his  life  he  considered  himself  as  striving  after  that 
ideal  excellence  which  had  been  revealed  to  him,  but 
to  which  he  conceived  that  others  were  blind  or  in- 
different. In  allusion  to  his  own  imperfections,  ho 
made  a  drawing,  since  become  famous,  which  repre 


218 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


gents  an  aged  man  in  a  go-cart,  and  underneath  the 
words  "Ancora  impara  "  (still  learning) 

He  continued  to  labor  unremittingly,  and  with 
the  same  resolute  energy  of  mind  and  purpose,  till 
the  gradual  decay  of  his  strength  warned  him  of  his 
approaching  end.  He  did  not  suffer  from  any  par- 
ticular malady,  and  his  mind  was  strong  and  clear 
to  the  last.  He  died  at  Rome,  on  the  17th  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1563,  in  the  eighty-ninth  year  of  his  age. 
A  few  days  before  his  death,  he  dictated  his  will  in 
these  few,  simple  words  :  "I  bequeath  my  soul  to 
God,  my  body  to  the  earth,  and  my  possessions  to 
my  nearest  relations."  His  nephew,  Lionardo  Bu- 
onaroti,  who  was  his  principal  heir,  by  the  orders 
of  the  Grand  Duke  Cosmo  had  his  remains  secretly 
conveyed  out  of  Rome  and  brought  to  Florence ; 
they  were  with  due  honors  deposited  in  the  church 
of  Santa  Croce,  under  a  costly  monument,  on  which 
we  may  see  his  noble  bust  surrounded  by  three  very 
commonplace  and  ill-executed  statues  representing 
the  arts  in  which  he  excelled  —  Painting,  Sculpture, 
tnd  Architecture.  They  might  have  added  Poetry ; 
for  Michael  Angelo  was  so  fine  a  poet  that  his  pro- 
ductions would  have  given  him  fame,  though  he  had 
never  peopled  the  Sistine  with  his  giant  creations, 
nor  "suspended  the  Pantheon  in  the  «ir."#  The 

*  The  dome  of  the  Pantheon,  which  appears  self-sustained,  had, 
from  the  time  of  Augustus  Caesar,  attracted  the  wonder  and  admira- 
tion of  all  beholders,  as  a  marvel  of  scientific  architecture.  Michael 


MICHAEL  ANGELO. 


219 


object  to  which  his  poems  are  chiefly  addressed, 
Vittoria  Colonna,  Marchioness  of  Pescara,  was  the 
widow  of  the  celebrated  commander  who  overcame 
Francis  I.  at  the  battle  of  Pavia  ;  herself  a  poetess, 
and  one  of  the  most  celebrated  women  of  her  time  for 
beauty,  talents,  virtue,  and  piety.  She  died  in  1547. 
Several  of  Michael  Angelo's  sonnets  have  been  trans- 
lated by  Wordsworth,  and  a  selection  of  his  poems, 
with  a  very  learned  and  eloquent  introduction,  has 
been  published  by  Mr.  John  Edward  Taylor,  in  a 
little  volume  entitled  "  Michael  Angelo  a  Poet." 

It  must  be  borne  in  recollection  that  the  pictures 
ascribed  to  Michael  Angelo  in  catalogues  and  pic- 
ture galleries  are  in  every  instance  copies  made  by 
his  scholars  from  his  designs  and  models.  Only  one 
easel  picture  is  acknowledged  as  the  genuine  pro- 
duction of  his  hand.  It  is  a  Holy  Family  in  the 
Florentine  gallery,  which  as  a  composition  is  very 
exaggerated  and  ungraceful,  and  in  color  hard  and 
violent.  It  is  painted  in  distemper,  varnished  ;  not 
in  oils,  as  some  have  supposed. 

Marcello  Venusti  was  continually  employed  in 
executing  small  pictures  from  celebrated  cartoons  of 
Michael  Angelo  ;  and  the  diminutive  size,  and  soft, 
neat,  delicate  execution,  form  a  singular  contrast 
with  the  sublimity  of  the  composition  and  the  grand 
massive  drawing  of  the  figures.  One  of  these  sub- 
jects is  the  Virgin  seated  at  the  foot  of  the  Cross, 

Angelo  had  said,  on  some  occasion,  "  I  will  take  the  Pantheon  and 
suspend  it  in  air  ; "  and  he  did  so. 


22U 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


holding  on  her  lap  the  dead  Redeemer,  whose  arms 
are  supported  by  two  angels  :  innumerable  dupli- 
cates and  engravings  exist  of  this  composition  (one 
exquisite  example  is  in  the  Queen's  gallery  in  Buck- 
ingham Palace)  ;  also  of  the  Christ  on  the  Cross, 
with  the  Virgin  and  St.  John  standing  and  two  an- 
gels looking  out  of  the  sky  behind,  with  an  expres- 
sion of  intense  anguish  (one  of  these,  a  very  fine 
example,  was  lately  sold  in  the  Lucca  gallery).  An- 
other is  II  Silenzio,  The  Silence.  The  Virgin  is  repre- 
sented with  the  infant  Christ  lying  across  her  knee, 
with  his  arm  hanging  down  ;  she  has  a  book  in  one 
hand ;  behind  her  on  one  side  is  the  young  St.  John 
in  the  panthers  skin,  with  his  finger  on  his  lips  ;  on 
the  other,  St.  Joseph.  The  Annunciation,  in  which 
the  figure  of  the  Virgin  is  particularly  majestic,  is  a 
fourth.  Copies  of  these  subjects,  with  trifling  varia- 
tions, are  to  be  found  in  many  galleries,  and  the 
engravings  of  all  are  in  the  British  Museum. 

Sebastian  del  Piombo  was  another  artist  who 
painted  under  the  direction  and  from  the  cartoons 
of  Michael  Angelo ;  and  the  most  famous  example 
of  this  union  of  talent  is  the  Raising  of  Lazarus, 
in  our  National  Gallery.  '*  Sebastian,"  says  Lanzi, 
"  was  without  the  gift  of  invention,  and  in  compo- 
sitions of  many  figures  slow  and  irresolute  ;  "  but 
he  was  a  consummate  portrait  painter,  and  a  most 
admirable  colorist.  A  Venetian  by  birth,  he  had 
learned  the  art  of  coloring  under  Giorgione.  On 
3oming  to  Rome  in  1518,  he  formed  a  close  intimacy 


MICHAEL  ANGELO. 


221 


with  Michael  Angelo  ;  the  tradition  is,  that  Michael 
Angelo  associated  Sebastiano  with  himself,  and  gave 
him  the  cartoons  of  his  grand  designs,  to  which  the 
Venetian  was  to  lend  the  magical  hues  of  his  pallette 
for  the  purpose  of  crushing  Raphael.  If  this  tradi- 
tion be  true,  the  failure  was  signal  and  deserved  ; 
but  luckily  we  are  not  obliged  to  believe  it.  It  rests 
on  no  authority  worthy  of  credit. 

Giacopo  Pontormo  painted  the  Venus  and  Cupid 
now  at  Hampton  Court,  from  a  famous  cartoon  of 
Michael  Angelo  ;  and  also  a  Leda,  which  is  in  the 
National  Gallery,  and  of  which  the  cartoon,  by 
Michael  Angelo,  is  in  our  Royal  Academy. 

But  the  most  celebrated  and  the  most  independent 
among  the  scholars  and  imitators  of  Michael  Angelo 
was  Daniel  da  Volterra,  whose  most  famous  work 
is  the  Taking  down  the  Saviour  from  the  Cross,  with 
a  number  of  figures  full  of  energy  and  movement. 

Giorgio  Vasari  was  a  pupil  and  especial  favorite 
of  Michael  Angelo  ;  he  was  a  painter  and  architect 
of  second-rate  merit.  He  has,  however,  earned  him- 
self an  immortality  by  his  admirable  biography  of 
the  painters,  sculptors,  and  architects  of  Italy,  from 
the  earliest  times  to  the  death  of  Michael  Angelo, 
whom  he  survived  only  ten  years.  A  large  picture 
by  Vasari,  representing  the  six  great  poets  of  Italy, 
is  in  the  gallery  of  Mr.  Hope. 

Ifr*Ts  not  necessary  to  say  anything  here  of  the 
painters  who,  in  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, and  in  the  lifetime  of  Michael  Angelo,  imi- 


222 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


tated  his  manner.  They  were  mere  journeymen, 
and,  indeed,  imitated  him  most  abominably ;  mis- 
taking extravagance  for  sublimity,  exaggeration  for 
grandeur,  and  distortion  and  affectation  for  energy 
and  passion,  —  a  wretched  set  !  Bat,  before  wo 
leave  Florence,  we  must  speak  of  one  more  artist, 
whose  proper  place  is  here,  because  he  was  a  Flor- 
entine, and  because  he  combined  in  a  singular  man- 
ner the  characteristics  of  the  three  great  men  of 
whom  we  have  last  spoken,  —  Lionardo  da  Vinci,  Fra 
Bartolomeo,  and  Michael  Angelo,  —  without  exactly 
imitating  or  equalling  any  one  of  them.  This  waa 
Andrea  del  Sarto,  a  great  artist ;  but  who  would  * 
have  been  a  far  greater  artist  had  he  been  a  better 
man. 


ANDREA  DEL  SARTO. 


Born  1488,  died  1530. 

Ar  drea  Vannuciii  was  the  son  of  a  tailor  (in 
Italian  Sarto)  ;  hence  the  appellation  by  which  ho 
was  early  known,  and  has  since  become  celebrated. 
He  was  born  in  1478,  and,  like  many  others,  began 
life  as  a  goldsmith  and  chaser  in  metal,  but,  soon 
turning  his  attention  to  painting,  and  studying  in- 
defatigably,  he  attained  so  much  excellence  that  he 
was  called  in  his  own  time  "  Andrea  senza  errori," 
that  is,  Andrea  the  Faultless.  He  is  certainly  one 
of  the  most  fascinating  of  painters  ;  but  in  all  his 
pictures,  even  the  finest,  while  we  are  struck  by 
the  elegance  of  the  heads  and  the  majesty  of  the 
figures,  we  feel  the  want  of  any  real  elevation  of 
sentiment  and  expression.  It  would  be  difficult  to 
point  out  any  picture  of  Andrea  del  Sarto  which 
has  either  simplicity  or  devotional  feeling. 

A  man  possessed  of  genius  and  industry,  loving 
his  art,  and  crowned  with  early  fame  and  success, 
ought  to  have  been  through  life  a  prosperous  and 
a  happy  man.  Andrea  was  neither.  He  was 
miserable,  unfortunate,  and  contemned,  through 
his  own  fault  or  folly.     He  loved  a  beautiful 

(223) 


224  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


woman  of  infamous  character,  who  was  the  wife  of 
a  hatter ;  and  on  the  death  of  her  husband,  in 
spite  of  her  bad  reputation  and  the  warnings  of  his 
best  friends,  he  married  her.  From  that  hour  he 
never  had  a  quiet  heart,  or  home,  or  conscience. 
He  had  hitherto  supported  his  old  father  and 
mother.  She  prevailed  on  him  to  forsake  them. 
His  friends  stood  aloof,  pitying  and  despising  his 
degradation.  His  scholars  (and  formerly  the  most 
promising  of  the  young  artists  of  that  time  had 
been  emulous  for  the  honor  of  his  instructions)  now 
fell  off,  unable  to  bear  the  detestable  temper  of  the 
woman  who  governed  his  house.  Tired  of  this  ex- 
istence, he  accepted  readily  an  invitation  from 
Francis  I.,  who,  on  his  arrival  at  Paris,  loaded  him 
with  favor  and  distinction  ;  but  after  a  time,  his 
wife,  finding  she  had  no  longer  the  same  command 
over  his  purse  or  his  proceedings,  summoned  him 
to  return.  He  had  entered  into  such  engagements 
with  Francis  I.  that  this  was  not  easy  ;  but,  as  he 
pleaded  his  domestic  position,  and  promised,  and 
even  took  an  oath  on  the  Gospel,  that  he  would  re- 
turn in  a  few  months,  bringing  with  him  his  wife, 
the  king  gave  him  license  to  depart,  and  even  in- 
trusted him  with  a  large  sum  of  money  to  be  ex- 
pended in  certain  specified  objects. 

Andrea  hastened  to  Florence,  and  there,  under 
the  influence  of  his  infamous  wife,  he  embezzled 
the  money,  which  was  wasted  in  his  own  and  her 
extravagance  ;  and  he  never  returned  to  France  to 


ANDREA  DEL  SARTQ, 


225 


keep  his  oath  and  engagements.  Bat,  though  he 
had  been  weak  and  wicked  enough  to  commit  this 
crime,  he  had  sufficient  sensibility  to  feel  acutely 
the  disgrace  which  was  the  consequence.  It 
preyed  on  his  mind,  and  embittered  the  rest  of  his 
life.  The  avarice  and  infidelity  of  his  wife  added 
to  his  sufferings.  He  continued  to  paint,  however, 
and  improved  to  the  last  in  correctness  of  style  and 
beauty  of  color. 

In  the  year  1530  he  was  attacked  by  a  conta- 
gious disorder.  Abandoned  on  his  death-bed  by  the 
woman  to  whom  he  had  sacrificed  honor,  fame,  and 
friends,  he  died  miserably,  and  was  buried  hastily, 
and  without  the  usual  ceremonies  of  the  church,  in 
the  same  convent  of  the  Nunziata  which  he  had 
adorned  with  his  works. 

Andrea  del  Sarto  can  only  be  estimated  as  a 
painter  by  those  who  have  visited  Florence.  Fine 
as  are  his  oil-pictures,  his  paintings  in  fresco  are 
still  finer.  One  of  these,  a  Repose  of  the  Holy 
Family,  has  been  celebrated,  for  the  last  two  cen- 
turies, under  the  title  of  the  Madonna  del  Sacco, 
because  Joseph  is  represented  leaning  on  a  sack. 
There  are  engravings  of  it  in  the  British  Museum. 

The  cloisters  of  the  convent  of  the  Nunziata,  and 
a  building  called  the  Scalzo,  at  Florence,  contain 
his  most  admired  works.  His  finest  picture  in  oil 
is  in  the  Florence  Gallery,  in  the  cabinet  called  the 
Tribune,  where  it  hangs  behind  the  Venus  de* 
Medici.  It  represents  the  Virgin  seated  on  a 
15 


226 


EARliY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


throne,  with  St.  John  the  Baptist  standing  on  one 
side,  and  St.  Francis  on  the  other ;  a  picture  of 
wonderful  majesty  and  beauty.  In  general  his 
Madonnas  are  not  pleasing.  They  have,  with  great 
beauty,  a  certain  vulgarity  of  expression  ;  and  in 
his  groups  he  almost  always  places  the  Virgin  on 
the  ground,  either  kneeling  or  sitting.  His  only 
model  for  all  his  females  was  his  wife ;  and  even 
when  he  did  not  paint  from  her,  she  so  possessed 
his  thoughts  that  unconsciously  he  repeated  the 
same  features  in  every  face  he  drew,  whether  Vir- 
gin, or  saint,  or  goddess.  Pictures  by  Andrea  del 
Sarto  are  to  be  found  in  almost  all  galleries,  but 
very  fine  examples  of  his  art  are  rare  out  of  Flor- 
ence. The  picture  in  our  National  Gallery  at- 
tributed to  him  is  very  unworthy  of  his  reputation. 
Those  at  Hampton  Court  are  not  better.  There  is 
a  fine  portrait  at  Windsor,  called  the  Gardener  of 
the  Duke  of  Florence,  attributed  to  him  ;  and  a 
female  head,  a  sketch  full  of  nature  and  power.  In 
the  Louvre  is  the  picture  of  Charity,  No.  85, 
painted  for  Francis  I.  when  Andrea  was  at  Fon- 
tainebleau  in  1518,  and  three  others.  Lord  West- 
minster, Lord  Lansdowne,  Mr.  Munroe  of  Park- 
street,  and  Lord  Cowper  in  his  collection  at  Pan- 
shanger,  possess  the  finest  examples  of  Andrea  del 
Sarto  which  are  in  England.  At  Panshanger  there 
is  a  very  fine  portrait  of  Andrea  del  Sarto  by  him- 
self. He  is  represented  as  standing  by  a  table  at 
which  he  has  been  writing,  and  looking  up  from 


ANDREA  DEL  SARTO. 


227 


the  letter  which  lies  before  him.  The  figure  is  half- 
length,  and  the  countenance  noble,  but  profoundly 
melancholy.  One  might  fancy  that  he  had  been 
writing  to  his  wife. 


RAPHAEL  SANZIO  D'URBINO. 


Born  1483,  died  1520. 

We  have  spoken  at  length  of  two  among  the 
great  men  who  influenced  the  progress  of  art  in  the 
beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  —  Lionardo  da 
Vinci  and  Michael  Angelo.  The  third  and  greatest 
name  was  that  of  Raphael. 

In  speaking  of  this  wonderful  man  we  shall  be 
more  diffuse  and  enter  more  into  detail  than  usual. 
How  can  we  treat,  in  a  small  compass,  of  him  whose 
fame  has  filled  the  universe?  In  the  history  of 
Italian  art  he  stands  alone,  like  Shakspeare  in  the 
history  of  our  literature ;  and  he  takes  the  same 
kind  of  rank  —  a  superiority  not  merely  of  degree 
but  of  quality.  Everybody  has  heard  of  Raphael  ; 
every  one  has  attached  some  associations  of  excel 
lence  and  beauty,  more  or  less  defined,  to  that 
familiar  name  ;  but  it  is  necessary  to  have  studied 
profoundly  the  history  of  art,  and  to  have  an  inti- 
mate acquaintance  with  the  productions  of  contem- 
porary and  succeeding  artists,  to  form  any  just  idea 
of  the  wide  and  lasting  influence  exercised  by  this 
harmonious  and  powerful  genius.  His  works  have 
been  an  inexhaustible  storehouse  of  ideas  to  paint- 

(228) 


RAPHAEL  SANZ10  D'TJRBINO  229 


era  and  to  poets.  Everywhere  ir>  art  wt  find  his 
traces.  Everywhere  we  recognize  his  forms  and 
lines,  borrowed  or  stolen,  reproduced,  varied,  imi- 
tated—  never  improved.  Some  critic  once  said, 
"  Show  me  any  sentiment  or  feeling  in  any  poet, 
ancient  or  modern,  and  I  will  show  you  the  same 
thing  either  as  well  or  better  expressed  in  Shak- 
speare."  In  the  same  manner  one  might  say, 
"  Show  me  in  any  painter,  ancient  or  modern,  any 
especial  beauty  of  form,  expression,  or  sentiment, 
and  in  some  picture,  drawing,  or  print,  after 
Kaphaol,  I  will  show  you  the  same  thing  as  well  or 
better  done,  and  that  accomplished  which  others 
have  only  sought  or  attempted."  To  complete  our 
idea  of  this  rare  union  of  greatness  and  versatility 
as  an  artist  with  all  that  could  grace  and  dignify 
the  man,  we  must  add  such  personal  qualities  as 
very  seldom  meet  in  the  same  individual  —  a  bright, 
generous,  genial,  gentle  spirit ;  the  most  attractive 
manners,  the  most  winning  modesty, 

His  heavenly  face  the  mirror  of  his  mind  ; 
His  mind  a  temple  for  all  lovely  things 
To  flock  to,  and  inhabit  — 

and  we  shall  have  a  picture  in  our  fancy  more 
resembling  that  of  an  antique  divinity,  a  young 
Apollo,  than  a  real  human  being.  There  was  a 
vulgar  idea  at  one  time  prevalent  that  Raphael  was 
a  man  of  vicious  and  dissipated  habits,  and  even 
died  a  -victim  to  his  excesses.    This  slander  haa 


230 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


been  silenced  forever  by  indisputable  evidence  to 
the  contrary,  and  now  we  may  reflect  with  pleasurs 
that  nothing  rests  on  surer  evidence  than  the  ad- 
mirable qualities  of  Raphael ;  that  no  earthly  re- 
nown was  ever  so  unsullied  by  reproach,  so  justi- 
fied  by  merit,  so  confirmed  by  concurrent  opinion, 
so  established  by  time.  The  short  life  of  Raphael 
was  one  of  incessant  and  persevering  study.  He 
spent  one-half  of  it  in  acquiring  that  practical 
knowledge,  and  that  mechanical  dexterity  of  hand, 
which  were  necessary  before  he  could  embody  in 
forms  and  colors  the  rich  creations  of  his  wonderful 
mind  ;  and  when  he  died,  at  the  age  of  thirty- 
seven,  he  left  behind  him  two  hundred  and  eighty- 
seven  pictures,  and  five  hundred  and  seventy-six 
drawings  and  studies.  If  we  reflect  for  one  moment, 
we  must  be  convinced  that  such  a  man  could  not 
have  been  idle  and  dissipated  ;  for  we  must  always 
take  into  consideration  that  an  excelling  painter 
must  be  not  only  a  poet  in  mind,  but  a  ready  and 
perfect  artificer  ;  and  that,  though  nature  may 
bestow  the  "  genius  and  the  faculty  divine,"  only 
time,  practice,  assiduous  industry,  can  give  the  ex- 
act and  cunning  hand.  "  An  author,"  as  Rich- 
ardson observes,  "  must  think,  but  it  is  no  matter 
what  character  he  writes ;  he  has  no  care  about 
that,  if  what  he  writes  be  legible.  A  curious 
mechanic's  hand  must  be  exquisite ;  but  his 
thoughts  maybe  at  liberty."  The  painter  must 
think  and  invent  with  his  fancy,  and  what  hia 


RAPHAEL  SAN.ZIO  D'URBINO.  231 


fancy  invents  his  hand  must  acquire  the  power  tn 
execute,  or  vain  is  his  power  of  creative  thought. 
It  has  been  observed  —  though  Raphael  was  un- 
happily an  exception  —  that  painters  are  generally 
long-lived  and  healthy  ;  and  that,  of  all  the  profess- 
ors of  science  and  art,  they  are  the  least  liable  to 
alienation  of  mind  or  morbid  effects  of  the  brain. 
One  reason  may  be,  that  through  the  union  of  the 
opposite  faculties  of  the  excursive  fancy  and  me- 
chanic skill,  —  head  and  hand  balancing  each  other, 
—  a  sort  of  harmony  in  their  alternate  or  coefficient 
exercise  is  preserved  habitually,  which  reacts  on 
the  whole  moral  and  physical  being.  As  Raphael 
carried  to  the  highest  perfection  the  union  of  thoso 
faculties  of  head  and  hand  which  constitute  the 
complete  artist,  so  this  harmony  pervaded  his  whole 
being,  and  nothing  deformed  or  discordant  could 
enter  there.  In  all  the  portraits  which  exist  of 
him,  from,  infancy  to  manhood,  there  is  a  divine 
sweetness  and  repose.  The  little  cherub  face  of 
three  years  old  is  not  more  serene  and  angelic  than 
the  same  features  at  thirty.  The  child  whom 
father  and  mother,  guardian  and  step-mother, 
caressed  and  idolized  in  his  loving  innocence,  was 
the  same  being  whom  we  see  in  the  prime  of  man- 
hood subduing  and  reigning  overall  hearts,  so  that, 
to  borrow  the  words  of  a  contemporary,  "  not  only 
all  men,  but  the  very  brutes,  loved  him  :  "  the  only 
very  distinguished  man  of  whom  we  read  who  lived 
and  died  without  an  enemy  or  a  detractor ! 


232  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


Raphael  Sanzio  or  Santi  was  born  in  the  city  of 
Urbino,  on  Good  Friday,  in  the  year  1483.  Hia 
father,  Giovanni  Santi,  was  a  painter  of  no  mean 
talent,  who  held  a  respectable  rank  in  his  native 
city,  and  was  much  esteemed  by  the  Dukes  Fred- 
erigo  and  Guidobaldo  of  Urbino,  both  of  whom 
played  a  very  important  part  in  the  history  of  Italy 
between  1474  and  1494.  The  name  of  Raphael's 
mother  was  Magia,  and  the  house  in  which  he  was 
born  is  still  standing,  and  regarded  by  the  citizens 
of  Urbino  with  just  veneration.  He  was  only  eight 
years  old  when  he  lost  his  mother,  but  his  father's 
second  wife,  Bernardina,  well  supplied  her  place, 
and  loved  him  and  tended  him  as  if  he  had  been 
her  own  son.  His  father  was  his  first  instructor, 
and  very  soon  the  young  pupil  was  not  only  able 
to  assist  him  in  his  works,  but  showed  such  extraor- 
dinary talent  that  Giovanni  deemed  it  right  to  give 
him  the  advantage  of  better  teaching  than  his  own. 
Perugino  was  the  most  celebrated  master  of  that 
time,  and  Giovanni  travelled  to  Perugia  to  make 
arrangements  for  placing  Raphael  under  his  care  ; 
but  before  these  arrangements  were  completed  this 
good  father  died,  in  August,  1494.  His  wishes 
were,  however,  carried  into  execution  by  his  widow 
and  by  his  wife's  brother,  Simone  Ciarla  ;  and 
Raphael  was  sent  to  study  under  Perugino,  in  1495, 
being  then  twelve  years  old. 

He  remained  in  this  school  till  he  was  nearly 
twenty,  and  was  chiefly  employed  in  assisting  hia 


RAPHAEL  SANZIO  D'URBINO. 


233 


master.  A  few  pictures  painted  between  his  six- 
teenth and  twentieth  year  have  been  authenticated 
by  careful  research,  and  are  very  interesting  from 
being  essentially  characteristic.  There  is,  of  course, 
the  manner  of  his  master  Perugino,  but  mingled 
with  some  of  those  qualities  which  were  particu- 
larly his  own,  and  which  his  after  life  developed 
into  excellence ;  and  nothing  in  these  early  pictures 
is  so  remarkable  as  the  gradual  improvement  of  his 
style,  and  his  young  predilection  for  his  favorite  sub- 
ject, the  Madonna  and  Child.  The  most  celebrated 
of  all  his  pictures  painted  in  the  school  of  Perugino 
was  one  representing  the  Marriage  of  the  Virgin 
Mary  to  Joseph  —  a  subject  which  is  very  common 
in  Italian  art,  and  called  Lo  Sposalizio  (the  Espou- 
sals). This  beautiful  picture  is  preserved  in  the 
Gallery  at  Milan.  There  is  a  large  and  fine  engrav- 
ing of  it  by  Longhi,  which  can  be  seen  in  any  good 
print-shop.  In  the  same  year  that  he  painted  this 
picture  (1504),  Raphael  visited  Florence  for  the 
first  time.  He  carried  with  him  a  letter  of  recom- 
mendation from  Giovanna,  Duchess  of  Sora,  and 
sister  of  the  Duke  of  Urbino,  to  Soderini,  who  had 
succeeded  the  exiled  Medici  in  the  government  of 
Florence.  In  this  letter  the  duchess  styles  him  "  a 
discreet  and  amiable  youth,"  to  whom  she  was 
attached  for  his  father's  sake  and  for  his  own  good 
qualities,  and  she  requests  that  Soderini  will  favor 
and  aid  him  in  his  pursuits.  Raphael  did  not  re- 
main long  at  Florence  in  this  first  visit,  but  he  made 


234  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


the  acquaintance  of  Fra  Bartolomeo  and  Ridoifo 
Ghirlandajo,  and  saw  some  cartoons  by  Lionardc 
da  Vinci  and  Michael  Angelo,  which  filled  his  mind 
with  new  and  bold  ideas  both  of  form  and  compo- 
sition.  In  the  following  year  he  was  employed  in 
executing  several  large  pictures  for  various  churches 
at  Perugia.  One  of  these,  a  large  altar-piece, 
painted  for  the  church  of  the  Servite,  is  now  at 
Blenheim  ;  it  is  full  of  beauty  and  dignity.  Beneath 
it  was  a  little  picture  of  St.  John  preaching  in  the 
Wilderness,  which  is  in  the  possession  of  Lord  Lans- 
downe.  About  the  same  time  he  painted  for  him- 
self a  lovely  little  miniature  called  the  Dream  of 
the  Young  Knight,  in  which  he  represents  a  youth 
armed,  who  sees  in  a  vision  two  female  figures,  one 
alluring  him  to  pleasure,  the  other,  with  a  book 
and  sword,  inviting  him  to  study  and  to  strive  for 
excellence.  This  is  now  in  England,  in  the  posses- 
sion of  Lady  Sykes.  It  has  been  lately  engraved  in 
an  exquisite  style  by  Mr.  L.  Gruner. 

When  he  had  finished  these  and  other  works,  he 
returned  to  Florence,  and  remained  there  till  1508. 

Some  of  the  most  exquisite  of  his  works  may  be 
referred  to  this  period  of  his  life,  that  is,  before  he 
was  five-and-twenty. 

One  of  these  is  the  Madonna  sitting  under  the 
Palm-tree,  while  Joseph  presents  flowers  to  the  In- 
fant Christ.  This  may  be  seen  in  the  Bridgewater 
Gallery.  A  second  is  the  Madonna  in  the  posses- 
sion of  Earl  Cowper,  and  now  at  Panshanger. 


RAPHAEL  SANZIO  D'URBINO.  235 

Another  is  the  famous  Madonna  in  the  Florentine 
Gallery,  called  the  Madonna  del  Cardellino  (the 
Virgin  of  the  Goldfinch),  because  the  little  St. 
John  is  presenting  a  goldfinch  to  trie  Infant  Christ. 
Another,  as  famous,  now  in  the  Louvre,  called  La 
Belle  Jardiniere,  because  the  Madonna  is  seated  in 
a  garden  amid  flowers,  with  Christ  standing  at  her 
knee.  The  St.  Catherine  in  our  National  Gallery 
was  also  painted  about  the  same  period  ;  and  the 
little  picture  of  St.  George  and  the  Dragon,  which 
Guidobaldo,  Duke  of  Urbino,  sent  as  a  present  to 
Henry  VII.,  and  which  is  now  at  St.  Petersburg. 
In  this  picture  St.  George  is  armed  with  a  lance, 
and  has  the  Garter  round  his  knee,  with  the 
inscription  "  Honi  soit  qui  mal  ypense."  There 
is  another  little  St.  George  in  the  Louvre,  in  which 
the  saint  is  about  to  slay  the  dragon  with  a  sword. 
And  there  are,  besides,  two  or  three  large  altar- 
pieces  and  some  beautiful  portraits  ;  in  all  about 
thirty  pictures  painted  during  the  three  years  he 
spent  at  Florence. 

RAPHAEL  AT  ROME. 

In  his  twenty-fifth  year,  when  Fra  Bartolomeo, 
Lionardo  da  Vinci,  and  Michael  Angelo,  were  all 
at  the  height  of  their  fame,  and  many  years  older 
than  himself,  the  young  Raphael  had  already  be- 
come celebrated  from  one  end  of  Italy  to  the  other. 
At  this  time  Julius  II.  was  pope.  Of  his  extraor- 
dinary and  energetic  character  we  have  already 


236 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


spoken  at  length,  in  the  life  of  Michael  Angulo 
At  the  age  of  seventy  he  was  revolving  plans  foi 
the  aggrandizement  of  his  power  and  the  embellish- 
ment of  the  Vatican  which  it  would  have  taken  a 
long  life  to  realize.  Conscious  that  the  time  before 
him  was  to  be  measured  by  months  rather  than  by 
years,  and  ambitious  to  concentrate  in  his  own  per- 
son all  the  glory  that  must  ensue  from  such  mag- 
nificent works,  he  listened  to  no  obstacles,  he  would 
endure  no  delays,  he  spared  no  expense,  in  his  un- 
dertakings. Bramante,  the  greatest  architect,  and 
Michael  Angelo,  the  greatest  sculptor,  in  Italy,  were 
already  in  his  service.  Lionardo  da  Vinci  was  then 
employed  in  public  works  at  Florence,  and  could 
not  be  engaged ;  and  he  therefore  sent  for  Raphael 
to  undertake  the  decoration  of  those  halls  in  the 
Vatican  which  Pope  Nicholas  V.  and  Sixtus  IV. 
had  begun  and  left  unfinished.  The  invitation,  or 
rather  order,  of  the  pope,  was  as  usual  so  urgent  and 
so  peremptory,  that  Raphael  hurried  from  Florence, 
leaving  his  friends  Bartolomeo  and  Ghirlandajo  to 
complete  his  unfinished  pictures,  and  immediately 
on  his  arrival  at  Rome  he  commenced  the  greatest 
of  his  works,  the  Chambers  (Camere)  of  the  Vat- 
ican. 

In  general,  when  Raphael  undertook  any  great 
work  illustrative  of  sacred  or  profane  history,  he 
did  not  hesitate  to  ask  advice  of  his  learned  and 
literary  friends  on  points  of  costume  or  chronol- 
ogy.    But  when  he  began  his  paintings  in  the 


RAPHAEL  SANZIO  D'URBINO.  237 


Vatican  he  was  wholly  unassisted,  and  the  plan 
which  he  laid  before  the  pope,  and  which  was  im- 
mediately approved  and  adopted,  shows  that  the 
grasp  and  cultivation  of  his  mind  equalled  his 
powers  as  a  painter.  He  dedicated  this  first  sa- 
loon, called  in  Italian  the  Camera  della  Segnatura, 
t  )  the  glory  of  those  high  intellectual  pursuits 
which  may  be  said  to  embrace  in  some  form  or 
other  all  human  culture  —  he  represented  Theol- 
ogy, Poetry,  Philosophy,  and  Jurisprudence. 

And  first  on  the  ceiling  he  painted  in  four  circles 
four  allegorical  female  figures  with  characteristic 
symbols,  throned  amid  clouds,  and  attended  by 
beautiful  genii.  Of  these,  the  figure  of  Poetry  is 
distinguished  by  superior  grandeur  and  inspira- 
tion. Beneath  these  figures  and  on  the  four  sides 
of  the  room  he  painted  four  great  pictures,  each 
about  fifteen  feet  high  by  twenty  or  twenty-five  feet 
wide,  the  subjects  illustrating  historically  the  four 
allegorical  figures  above.  Under  Theology  he  placed 
the  composition  called  La  Disputa,  that  is,  the  ar- 
gument concerning  the  holy  sacrament.  In  the 
upper  part  is  the  heavenly  glory,  the  Redeemer  in 
the  centre,  beside  him  the  Virgin  mother.  On  the 
right  and  left,  arranged  in  a  semicircle,  patriarchs, 
apostles,  and  saints,  all  seated  ;  all  full  of  charac- 
ter, dignity,  and  a  kind  of  celestial  repose  befitting 
their  beatitude.  Angels  are  hovering  round  ;  four 
of  them,  surrounding  the  emblematic  Dove,  hold 
the  Gospels.    In  the  lower  half  of  the  picture  are 


238 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


assembled  the  celebrated  doctors  and  teachers  of  the 
Church,  grand,  solemn,  meditative  figures  ;  some 
searching  their  books,  some  lost  in  thought,  some 
engaged  in  colloquy  sublime.  And  on  each  side,  a 
little  lower,  groups  of  disciples  and  listeners,  every 
head  and  figure  a  study  of  character  and  expression, 
—  all  different,  all  full  of  nature,  animation,  and 
significance  ,  and  thus  the  two  parts  of  this  magnifi- 
cent composition,  the  heavenly  beatitude  above,  the 
mystery  of  faith  below,  combine  into  one  compre- 
hensive whole.  This  picture  contains  about  fifty 
full-length  figures. 

Under  Poetry  we  have  Mount  Parnassus.  Apollo 
and  the  Muses  are  seen  on  the  summit.  On  one 
side,  near  them,  the  epic  and  tragic  poets,  Homer, 
Virgil,  Dante.  (Ariosto  had  not  written  his  poem 
at  this  time,  and  Milton  and  Tasso  were  yet  unborn.) 
Below,  on  each  side,  are  the  lyrical  poets,  Petrarch, 
Sappho,  Corinna,  Pindar,  Horace.  The  arrange- 
ment, grouping,  and  character,  are  most  admirable 
and  graceful ;  but  Raphael's  original  design  for 
this  composition,  as  we  have  it  engraved  by  Marc 
Antonio,  is  finer  than  the  fresco,  in  which  there 
are  many  alterations  which  cannot  be  considered  as 
improvements. 

Under  Philosophy  he  has  placed  the  School  of 
Athens.  It  represents  a  grand  hall  or  portico,  in 
which  a  flight  of  steps  separates  the  foreground 
from  the  background.  Conspicuous,  and  above  the 
rest,  are  the  elder  intellectual  philosophers,  Plato, 


RAPHAEL  SANZIO  D'URBINO  239 


Aristotle,  Socrates  :  Plato  characteristically  point- 
ing upwards  to  heaven  ;  Aristotle  pointing  to  the 
earth  ;  Socrates  impressively  discoursing  to  the  lis- 
teners near  him. 

Then,  on  a  lower  plan,  we  have  the  Sciences  and 
Arts,  represented  by  Pythagoras  and  Archimedes ; 
Zoroaster,  and  Ptolemy  the  geographer  ;  while 
alone,  as  if  avoiding  and  avoided  by  all,  sits  Diog- 
enes the  Cynic.  Raphael  has  represented  the  art 
of  painting  by  the  figure  of  his  master  Perugino, 
and  has  introduced  a  portrait  of  himself  humbly 
following  him.  The  group  of  Archimedes  (whose 
head  is  a  portrait  of  Bramante,  the  architect)  sur- 
rounded by  his  scholars,  who  are  attentively  watch- 
ing him  as  he  draws  a  geometrical  figure,  is  one  of 
the  finest  things  which  Raphael  ever  conceived  ;  and 
the  whole  composition  has  in  its  regularity  and 
grandeur  a  variety  and  dramatic  vivacity  which 
relieve  it  from  all  formality.  This  picture  also 
contains  not  less  than  fifty  figures. 

Ijaw,  or  Jurisprudence,  from  the  particular  con- 
struction of  the  wall  on  which  the  subject  is  painted, 
is  represented  with  less  completeness,  and  is  broken 
up  into  divisions.  Prudence,  Fortitude,  and  Tem- 
perance, are  above  ;  below,  on  one  side,  is  Pope 
Gregory  delivering  the  ecclesiastical  law  ;  and  on 
the  other,  Justinian  promulgating  his  famous  code 
of  civil  law.  The  whole  decoration  of  this  chamber 
forms  a  grand  allegory  of  the  domain  of  human 


240 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


intellect,  shadowed  forth  in  creations  of  surpassing 
beauty  and  dignity. 

The  description  here  given  is  necessarily  brief 
and  imperfect.  We  advise  our  readers  to  consult 
the  engravings  of  these  frescoes,  and  with  the  above 
explanation  they  will  probably  be  intelligible  ;  at  all 
events,  the  wonderfully  prolific  genius  of  the  painter 
will  be  appreciated,  in  the  number  of  the  person- 
ages introduced  and  the  appropriate  characters  of 
each. 

About  this  time  Raphael  painted  that  portrait  of 
Julius  II.,  of  which  a  duplicate  is  in  our  National 
Gallery.  No  one  who  has  studied  the  history  of 
this  extraordinary  old  man,  and  his  relations  with 
Michael  Angelo  and  Raphael,  can  look  upon  it 
without  interest.  Another  fine  duplicate  is  in  the 
gallery  of  Mr.  Miles,  at  Leigh  Court,  near  Bris- 
tol. The  original  is  in  the  Pitti  Palace  at  Flor- 
ence. 

Also  at  this  time  Raphael  painted  the  portrait 
of  himself,  which  is  preserved  in  the  Gallery  of 
Painters  at  Florence ;  it  represents  him  as  a  very 
handsome  young  man,  with  luxuriant  hair  and  dark 
eyes,  full  lips,  and  a  pensive  yet  benign  counte- 
nance.* To  this  period  we  may  also  refer  a  num- 
ber of  beautiful  Madonnas  :  Lord  Garvagh's,  called 
the  Aldobrandini  Madonna  ;   the  Virgin  of  the 

*  There  is  an  engraving  by  Pontius.  The  head  engraved  by 
Raphael  Morghen  as  the  portrait  of  Raphael  is  now  considered  to 
be  the  portrait  of  Bindo  Altoviti.    It  is  at  Munich. 


RAPHAEL  SANZIO  D'UKBINO  241 


Bridge  water  Gallery ;  the  Vierge  au  Diademe  in 
the  Louvre  ;  and  the  yet  more  famous  Madonna  di 
Foligno,  now  at  Rome  in  the  Vatican. 

While  employed  for  Pope  Julius  in  executing  the 
frescoes  already  described,  Raphael  found  a  mu- 
nificent friend  and  patron  in  Agostino  Chigi,  a  rich 
banker  and  merchant,  who  was  then  living  at  Rome 
in  great  splendor.  He  painted  several  pictures  for 
him :  the  four  Sibyls  in  the  chapel  of  the  Chigi 
family,  in  the  church  of  Santa  Maria  della  Pace,  — 
sublime  figures,  full  of  grandeur  and  inspiration ; 
and,  on  the  wall  of  a  chamber  in  his  palace,  that 
fresco  the  Triumph  of  Galatea,  well  known  from 
the  numerous  engravings. 

About  the  year  1510  Raphael  began  the  decora- 
tion of  the  second  chamber  of  the  Vatican.  In  this 
series  of  compositions  he  represented  the  power  and 
glory  of  the  Church,  and  her  miraculous  deliverances 
from  her  secular  enemies  :  all  these  being  an  in- 
direct honor  paid  to,  or  rather  claimed  by  Julius 
II.,  who  made  it  a  subject  of  pride  that  he  had  not 
only  expelled  all  enemies  from  the  Papal  territories, 
but  also  enlarged  their  boundaries  —  by  no  scrupu- 
lous means.  On  the  ceiling  of  this  room  are  four 
beautiful  pictures  —  the  promises  of  God  to  the 
four  Patriarchs,  Noah,  Abraham,  Jacob,  and 
Moses.  On  the  four  side  walls,  the  Expulsion  of 
Heliodorus  from  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem  ;  the 
Miracle  of  Bolsena,  by  which,  as  it  was  said,  here- 
tics were  silenced  ;  Attila,  King  of  the  Huns,  ter- 
16 


242  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS, 


rifled  by  the  apparition  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul ; 
and  St.  Peter  delivered  from  Prison.  Of  these  the 
Heliodorus  is  one  of  the  grandest  and  most  poetical 
of  all  Raphael's  creations  :  the  group  of  the  celes- 
tial warrior  trampling  on  the  prostrate  Heliodorus, 
with  the  avenging  spirits  rushing,  floating  along, 
air-borne,  to  scourge  the  despoiler,  is  wonderful  for 
its  supernatural  powers ;  it  is  a  vision  of  beauty 
and  terror. 

Before  this  chamber  was  finished,  Julius  II.  died, 
and  was  succeeded  by  Leo  X.  in  1513. 

Though  the  character  of  Pope  Leo  X.  was  in  all 
respects  different  from  that  of  Julius,  he  was  not 
less  a  patron  of  Raphael  than  his  predecessor  had 
been  ;  and  certainly  the  number  of  learned  and  ac- 
complished men  whom  he  attracted  to  his  court, 
and  the  enthusiasm  for  classical  learning  which 
prevailed  among  them,  strongly  influenced  those 
productions  of  Raphael  which  date  from  the  acces- 
sion of  Leo.  They  became  more  and  more  allied  to 
the  antique,  and  less  and  less  imbued  with  that 
pure  religious  spirit  which  we  find  in  his  earlier 
works. 

Cardinal  Bembo,  Cardinal  Bibiena,  Count  Cas- 
tiglione,  the  poets  Ariosto  and  Sanazzaro,  ranked 
at  this  time  among  Raphael's  intimate  friends. 
With  his  celebrity  his  riches  increased  ;  he  built 
himself  a  fine  house  in  that  part  of  Rome  called 
the  Borgo,  between  St.  Peter's  and  the  Castle  of  St. 
Angelo  ;  he  had  numerous  scholars  from  all  parte 


RAPHAEL  8ANZI0  D'URBINO. 


248 


of  Italy,  who  attended  on  him  with  a  love  and 
reverence  and  duty  far  beyond  the  lip-and-knee 
homage  which  waits  on  princes  ;  and  such  was  tho 
influence  of  his  benign  and  genial  temper,  that  all 
these  young  men  lived  in  the  most  entire  union  and 
friendship  with  him  and  with  each  other,  and  his 
school  was  never  disturbed  by  those  animosities  and 
jealousies  which  before  and  since  have  disgraced 
the  schools  of  art  of  Italy.  All  the  other  paint- 
ers of  that  time  were  the  friends  rather  than  tho 
rivals  of  the  supreme  and  gentle  Raphael,  with  the 
single  exception  of  Michael  Angelo. 

About  the  period  at  which  we  are  now  arrived, 
the  beginning  of  the  pontificate  of  Leo'X.,  Michael 
Angelo  had  left  Rome  for  Florence,  as  it  has  been 
related  in  his  life.  Lionardo  da  Vinci  came  to 
Rome,  by  the  invitation  of  Leo,  attended  by  a  train 
of  scholars,  and  lived  on  good  terms  with  Raphael, 
who  treated  the  venerable  old  man  with  becoming 
deference.  Fra  Bartolomeo  also  visited  Rome  about 
1513,  to  the  great  joy  of  his  friend.  We  find  Ra- 
phael at  this  time  on  terms  of  the  tenderest  friend- 
ship with  Francia,  and  in  correspondence  with 
Albert  Durer,  for  whom  he  entertained  the  highest 
admiration. 

Under  Leo  X.  Raphael  continued  his  great  works 
in  the  Vatican.  He  began  the  third  hall  or  camera 
in  1515.  The  ceiling  of  this  chamber  had  been 
painted  by  his  master  Perugino  for  Sixtus  IV. ;  and 
Raphael,  from  a  feeling  of  respect  for  his  old 


244 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


master^  would  not  remove  or  paint  over  his  work. 
On  the  sides  of  the  room  he  represented  the  prin- 
cipal events  in  the  lives  of  Pope  Leo  III.  and  Pope 
Leo  IV.,  shadowing  forth  under  their  names  the 
glory  of  his  patron  Leo  X.  Of  these  pictures,  the 
most  remarkable  is  that  which  is  called  in  Italian 
L'lncendio  del  Borgo  (the  Fire  in  the  BorgoJ. 
The  story  says  that  this  populous  part  of  Rome  was 
on  fire  in  the  time  of  Leo  IV.,  and  that  the  con- 
flagration was  extinguished  by  a  miracle.  In  the 
hurry,  confusion,  and  tumult,  of  the  scene  ;  in  the 
men  escaping  half  naked  ;  in  the  terrified  groups 
assembled  in  the  foreground ;  in  the  women  car- 
rying water ;  we  find  every  variety  of  attitude  and 
emotion,  expressed  with  a  perfect  knowledge  of 
form  ;  and  some  of  the  figures  exhibit  the  influenco 
of  Michael  Angelo's  ceiling  of  the  Sistine  Chapel, 
already  described.  This  fresco,  though  so  fine  in 
point  of  drawing,  is  the  worst  colored  of  the  whole 
series  ;  the  best  in  point  of  color  are  the  Heliodorus 
and  the  Miracle  of  Bolsena. 

The  last  of  the  chambers  in  the  Vatican  is  the 
Hall  of  Constantine,  painted  with  scenes  from  the 
life  of  that  emperor.  The  whole  of  these  frescoes 
having  been  executed  by  the  scholars  of  Raphael, 
from  his  designs  and  cartoons,  we  shall  not  dwell 
on  them  here,  only  observing  that  an  excellent 
reduced  copy  of  the  finest  of  all,  the  Battle  of  Con- 
stantine and  Maxentius,  may  be  seen  at  Hampton 
Court. 


KAPHAEL  SANZIO  D'UKBINO.  245 


While  Raphael,  assisted  by  his  scholars,  was  de- 
signing and  executing  the  large  frescoes  in  the  Vati- 
can, he  was  also  engaged  in  many  other  works. 
His  fertile  mind  and  ready  hand  were  never  idle, 
and  the  number  of  original  creations  of  this  won- 
derful man,  and  the  rapidity  with  which  they  suc- 
ceeded each  other,  are  quite  unexampled.  Among 
his  most  celebrated  and  popular  compositions  is  the 
series  of  subjects  from  the  Old  Testament,  called 
"Raphael's  Bible;"  these  were  comparatively 
small  pictures,  adorning  the  thirteen  cupolas  of  the 
"Loggie"  of  the  Vatican.  These  "Loggie"  are 
open  galleries,  running  round  three  sides  of  an  open 
court ;  and  the  gallery  on  the  second  story  is  the 
one  painted  under  Raphael's  direction.  Up  the 
sides  and  round  the  windows  are  arabesque  orna- 
ments, festoons  of  fruit,  flowers,  animals,  all  com- 
bined and  grouped  together  with  the  most  exquisite 
and  playful  fancy.  They  have  been  much  injured 
by  time,  yet  more  by  the  barbarous  treatment  of 
the  French  soldiery  when  Rome  was  sacked  in  1527, 
and  worst  of  all  by  unskilful  attempts  at  restora- 
tion. The  pictures  in  the  cupolas,  being  out  of 
reach,  are  better  preserved.  Sacred  subjects  were 
never  represented  in  so  beautiful,  so  poetical,  and 
so  intelligible  a  manner  as  by  Raphael ;  but,  as  the 
copies  and  engravings  of  these  works  are  innumer- 
able, and  easily  met  with,  we  shall  not  enter  into 
a  particular  description  of  them  ;  very  good  copies 


246 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


of  several  may  be  seen  at  the  National  School  ot 
Design  at  Somerset  House.* 

There  was  still  another  great  work  for  the  Vati- 
can intrusted  to  Raphael.  The  interior  of  the  Sis- 
tine  Chapel  had  been  ornamented  round  the  lower 
walls  with  paintings  in  imitation  of  tapestries 
Leo  X.  resolved  to  substitute  real  draperies  of  tho 
most  costly  material ;  and  Raphael  was  to  furnish 
the  subjects  and  drawings,  which  were  to  be  copied 
in  the  looms  of  Flanders,  and  worked  in  a  mixture 
of  wool,  silk,  and  gold.  Thus  originated  the  famous 
Cartoons  of  Raphael. 

They  were  originally  eleven  in  number,  to  fit  the 
ten  compartments  into  which  the  wall  was  divided 
by  as  many  pilasters,  and  the  space  over  the  altar. 
Eight  were  large,  one  larger  than  the  rest,  and  two 
small.  Of  the  eleven  cartoons  designed  by  Raphael, 
four  are  lost,  and  seven  remain,  which  are  now  in 
the  Royal  Gallery  at  Hampton  Court.  As  they 
rank  among  the  greatest  productions  of  art,  and 
have  been  for  some  time  freely  thrown  open  to  the 
public,  we  shall  give  a  detailed  account  of  them 
here  from  various  sources,!  and  add  some  remarks 

*  A  set  of  excellent  engravings  from  the  series,  in  a  fine  free 
style,  and  of  a  large  size,  and  all  executed  at  Rome  after  the  original 
frescoes,  is  now  publishing  by  Parker,  in  the  Strand,  at  the  extraor- 
dinary low  price  of  six  engravings  for  nine  shillings.  The  subjects, 
the  size,  and  the  fine  taste  of  the  execution,  render  them  admirable 
ornaments  for  the  walls  of  a  school-room  or  study. 

t  See  Passavant's  "  Rafael  j "  Kugler's  "  Handbuch  *,  M  Bun- 
Ben's  "  Stadt  Rom  ; "  Murray's  "  Handbook  to  the  Public  Gal 


HAPHAEL  SANZIO  D'URBINO. 


247 


which  may  enable  the  uninitiated  to  form  a  judg- 
ment of  their  characteristic  merits,  as  well  as  to 
appreciate  duly  the  privilege  which  in  a  wise,  as 
well  as  a  right  royal  and  gracilis  spirit,  has  lately 
been  conceded  to  the  people. 

The  intention  in  the  whole  series  of  subjects  was 
to  express  the  mission,  the  sufferings,  and  the  tri- 
umph, of  the  Christian  church.  The  Death  of  the 
First  Martyr,  and  the  Acts  of  the  two  great  Apos- 
tles, St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  were  ranged  along  the 
sides  to  the  right  and  left  of  the  high  altar ;  while 
over  the  altar  was  the  Coronation  of  the  Virgin,  a 
subject  which,  as  we  have  already  seen,  was  always 
symbolical  of  the  triumph  of  religion.  In  the 
original  arrangement  the  tapestries  hung  in  the 
following  order :  # 

On  the  left  of  the  altar  —  1.  The  Miraculous 
Draught  of  Fishes  (that  is,  the  Calling  of  Peter)  ; 
2.  The  Charge  to  Peter ;  3.  The  Stoning  of  Ste- 
phen ;  4.  The  Healing  of  the  Lame  Man  ;  5.  The 
Death  of  Ananias.  . 

On  the  right  of  the  altar —  1.  The  Conversion  of 
St.  Paul ;  2.  Elymas  struck  Blind ;  3.  Paul  and 

leries  of  Art-,"  and  a  very  clever  account  of  the  Cartoons  which 
appeared  in  the  Penny  Magazine  some  years  ago.  From  all  these 
works  extracts  have  been  freely  taken,  and  put  together  so  as  to 
form  a  correct  and  complete  description  both  of  the  Cartoons  and 
the  Tapestries. 

*  Subsequently,  when  the  whole  of  the  wall  was  painted  by 
Michael  Angelo  with  the  Last  Judgment,  this  order  was  changed,, 
and  the  tapestry  of  the  Crowning  of  the  Virgin  entirely  removed. 


248 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


Barnabas  at  Ljstra  ;  4.  Paul  preaching  at  Athens  • 
5.  Paul  in  Prison.  All  along  underneath  ran  a 
rich  border  in  chiaro'scuro,  of  a  bronze  color,  re- 
lieved with  gold,  representing  on  a  smaller  scale 
incidents  in  the  life  of  Leo  X.,  with  ornamental 
arabesques,  groups  of  sporting  genii,  fruits,  flowers, 
&c. ;  and  the  pilasters  between  the  tapestries  were 
also  adorned  with  rich  arabesques.  Old  engravings 
exist  of  some  of  these  designs,  which  are  among  the 
most  beautiful  things  in  Italian  art ;  as  full  of 
grandeur  and  grace  as  they  are  exquisitely  fanciful 
and  luxuriant. 

The  large  cartoons  of  this  series  which  are  lost 
are,  the  Stoning  of  Stephen  ;  the  Conversion  of  St. 
Paul ;  Paul  in  his  Dungeon  at  Philippi ;  and  the 
Crowning  of  the  Virgin. 

The  seven  which  remain  to  us  are  arranged  at 
Hampton  Court  without  any  regard  either  to  their 
original  arrangement  or  to  chronological  order. 
Beginning  at  the  door  by  which  we  enter,  they  suc- 
ceed each  other  thus : 

1.  The  Death  of  Ananias. 

u  Thou  hast  not  lied  unto  men,  but  unto  God."  —  Acts  5. 

Nine  of  the  Apostles  stand  together  on  a  raised 
platform;  St.  Peter  in  the  midst,  with  uplifted 
hands,  is  in  the  act  of  speaking ;  on  the  right 
Ananias  lies  prostrate  on  the  earth,  while  a  young 
man  and  woman,  on  the  left,  are  starting  back, 


RAPHAEL  SANZIO  D'URBINO. 


249 


with  ghastly  horror  and  wonder  in  every  feature ; 
in  the  background,  to  the  left,  is  seen  Sapphira, 
who,  unaware  of  the  catastrophe  of  her  hueband 
and  the  terrible  fate  impending  over  her,  is  paying 
some  money  with  one  hand,  while  she  withholds 
some  in  the  other  ;  St.  John  and  another  Apostle 
are  on  the  left,  distributing  alms.  The  figures  are 
altogether  twenty-four  in  number.  Size,  seventeen 
feet  six  inches  by  eleven  feet  four  inches. 

As  a  composition,  considered  artistically,  this 
cartoon  holds  the  first  place  ;  nothing  has  ever  ex- 
ceeded it :  only  Raphael  himself,  in  some  of  his 
other  works,  has  equalled  it  in  the  wondrous  adapt- 
ation of  the  means  employed  to  the  end  in  view. 
By  the  circular  arrangement  of  the  composition, 
and  by  elevating  the  figures  behind  above  those  in 
front,  the  whole  of  the  personages  on  the  scene  are 
brought  at  once  to  sight.  The  elevated  position 
of  Peter  and  James,  though  standing  back  from 
the  foreground,  and  their  dignified  figures,  contrast 
strongly  with  the  abject  form  of  Ananias,  struck 
down  by  the  hand  of  God,  helpless,  and,  as  it 
seems,  quivering  in  every  limb.  Those  of  the  spec- 
tators who  are  near  Ananias  express  their  horror 
and  astonishment  by  the  most  various  and  appro- 
priate expression. 

"  He  falls,"  says  Hazlitt,  "  so  naturally,  that  it 
seems  as  if  a  person  could  fall  no  other  way  ;  and 
yet,  of  all  the  ways  in  which  a  human  figure  could 
fall,  it  is  probably  the  most  expressive  of  a  person 


250 


EARLY  ITALIAN  POINTERS. 


overwhelmed  by,  and  in  the  grasp  of,  divine  ven- 
geance. This  is  in  some  measure  the  secret  of 
Raphael's  success.  Most  painters,  in  studying  an 
attitude,  puzzle  themselves  to  find  oat  what  will  be 
picturesque,  and  what  will  be  fine,  and  never  dis- 
cover it.  Raphael  only  thought  how  a  person 
would  stand  or  fall  under  such  or  such  circum- 
stances, and  the  picturesque  and  the  fine  followed 
as  a  matter  of  course.  Hence  the  unaffected  force 
and  dignity  of  his  style,  which  are  only  another 
name  for  truth  and  nature  under  impressive  and 
momentous  circumstances." 

We  have  here  an  instance  of  that  truly  Shak- 
spearian  art  by  which  Raphael  always  softens  and 
heightens  the  effect  of  tragic  terror.  St.  John,  at 
the  very  instant  when  this  awful  judgment  has 
fallen  on  the  hypocrite  and  unbeliever,  has  benignly 
turned  to  bestow  alms  and  a  blessing  on  the  poor 
good  man  before  him.* 

*  "  It  has  been  questioned  whether  the  woman  who  is  advancing 
from  behind  was  meant  for  Sapphira,  as  it  is  stated  in  the  sacred 
record  that  three  hours  had  elapsed  after  the  death  of  Ananias 
before  she  entered  the  place.  Notwithstanding  this  objection,  it  is 
most  probable  that  Raphael  intended  this  figure  for  the  wife  of 
Ananias  ;  and  the  slight  inaccuracy  is  more  than  atoned  for  by  the 
sublime  moral,  which  shows  the  woman  approaching  the  spot  where 
her  husband  had  met  his  doom,  and  where  her  own  death  awaits 
her,  but  wholly  unconscious  of  those  judgments,  and  absorbed  in 
counting  that  gold  by  which  both  she  and  her  partner  had  been 
betrayed  to  their  fate." 


RAPHAEL  SANZIO  D'URBINO.  251 


2.  Elymas  the  Sorcerer  struck  with  Blind- 
ness. 

"  And  now,  behold,  the  hand  of  the  Lord  is  upon  thee,  and  thou 
shalt  be  blind,  not  seeing  the  sun  for  a  season.  And  immediately 
there  fell  on  him  a  mist  and  a  darkness  5  and  he  went  about  seeking 
gome  to  lead  him  by  the  hand. M  —  Acts  13  :  11. 

The  Proconsul  Sergius,  seated  on  his  throne,  be- 
holds with  astonishment  Elymas  struck  blind  by 
the  word  of  the  Apostle  Paul,  who  stands  on  the 
left ;  an  attendant  is  gazing  with  wonder  in  his 
face,  while  eight  persons  behind  him  are  all  occu- 
pied with  the  miraculous  event  which  is  passing 
before  their  eyes  ;  two  lictors  are  on  the  left ;  in  all 
fourteen  figures.  Size,  fourteen  feet  seven  inches  by 
eleven  feet  four  inches. 

This  cartoon,  as  a  composition,  is  particularly 
remarkable  for  the  concentration  of  the  effect  and 
interest  in  the  one  action.  The  figure  of  St.  Paul 
is  magnificent ;  while  the  crouching,  abject  form 
of  Elymas,  groping  his  way,  and  blind  even  to  his 
finger-ends,  stands  in  the  midst,  and  on  him  all 
eyes  are  bent.*  The  manner  in  which  the  im- 
pression is  graduated  from  terror  down  to  indif- 
ferent curiosity,  while  one  person  explains  the 
event  to  another  by  means  of  gesture,  are  among 

*  A  story  is  told  of  Garrick  objecting  to  the  truth  of  this  action  in 
the  hearing  of  Benjamin  West,  who,  in  vindication  of  the  painter, 
desired  Garrick  to  shut  his  eyes  and  walk  across  the  room,  when  ha 
instantly  stretched  out  his  hand  and  began  to  feel  his  way  with  the 
exact  attitude  and  expression  here  represented. 


252 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


the  most  spirited  dramatic  effects  Raphael  ever 
produced. 

3.  The  Healing  of  the  Lame  Man  at  the  Beau 
tiful  Gate  of  the  Temple. 

"  Then  Peter  said,  Silver  and  gold  have  I  none,  but  such  as  X 
have  I  give  unto  thee.  And  he  took  him  by  the  right  hand  and 
lifted  him  up."  —  Acts  3 :  6,  7. 

Under  the  portico  of  the  Temple  of  Jerusalem 
stand  the  two  Apostles  Peter  and  John  :  the  forme" 
is  holding  by  the  hand  a  miserable,  deformed  crip 
pie,  who  gazes  up  in  his  face  with  joyful,  eager 
wonder  ;  another  cripple  is  seen  on  the  left.  Among 
the  people  are  seen  conspicuous  a  woman  with  an 
infant  in  her  arms,  and  another  leading  two  naked 
boys,  one  of  whom  is  carrying  two  doves  as  an  offer- 
ing. The  wreathed  and  richly-adorned  columns  are 
imitated  from  those  which  have  been  preserved  for 
ages  in  the  church  of  St.  Peter,  as  relics  of  the 
Temple  of  Jerusalem.  With  regard  to  the  compo 
sition,  Raphael  has  been  criticized  for  breaking  it 
up  into  parts  by  the  introduction  of  the  pillars  ; 
yet,  if  properly  considered,  this  very  management 
is  a  proof  of  the  exquisite  taste  of  the  painter,  and 
his  attention  to  the  object  he  had  in  view.  Adher- 
ing to  the  sense  of  the  passage  in  Scripture,  he 
could  not  make  all  the  figures  refer  to  one  princi- 
pal action,  the  healing  of  the  cripple  ;  he  has 
therefore,  framed  it  in  a  manner  between  the  two 
columns ;  and  by  the  groups  introduced  into  tba 


RAPHAEL  SANZIO  D'URBINO. 


253 


other  two  divisions  he  has  intimated  that  the  people 
were  entering  the  temple  "  at  the  hour  of  prayer t 
being  the  ninth  hour."  It  is  evident,  moreover, 
that  had  the  shafts  been  perfectly  straight,  accord- 
ing to  the  severest  law  of  good  taste  in  architecture, 
the  effect  would  have  been  extremely  disagreeable 
to  the  eye  ;  by  their  winding  form  they  harmonize 
with  the  manifold  forms  of  the  moving  figures 
around,  and  they  illustrate,  by  their  elaborate  ele- 
gance, the  Scripture  phrase,  "  the  gate  which  is 
called  Beautiful."  The  misery,  the  distortion,  the 
ugliness  of  the  cripple,  are  made  as  striking  as  pos- 
sible, and  contrasted  with  the  noble  head  and  form 
of  St.  Peter,  and  the  benign  features  of  St.  John. 
The  figure  of  the  young  woman  with  her  child  is 
a  model  of  feminine  sweetness  and  grace  ;  it  is 
eminently,  perfectly  Raphaelesque,  stamped  with 
his  peculiar  sentiment  and  refinement.  The  bright 
open  sky  seen  between  the  interstices  of  the  col- 
umns harmonizes  with  the  lightness,  cheerfulness, 
and  happy  expression,  of  these  figures.  In  the 
compartment  where  the  miracle  is  taking  place, 
there  is  the  same  correspondence  of  effect  with  sen- 
timent ;  the  subdued  light  of  the  lamps  burning  in 
tho  depth  of  the  recess  accords  well  with  the  rev- 
erential feeling  excited  by  the  sacred  transaction. 
Many  parts  of  this  cartoon  have  unfortunately  been 
injured,  and  much  of  the  harmony  destroyed,  yet 
it  remains  one  of  the  most  wonderful  relics  of  art 
now  extant. 


254  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


4.  The  Miraculous  Draught  of  Fishes. 

"  When  Simon  Peter  saw  it,  he  fell  down  at  Jesus'  knees,  sayinjp. 
Depart  from  me,  for  I  am  a  sinful  man,  0  Lord."  —  Luke  5 :  8. 

On  the  left  Christ  is  seated  in  a  bark,  in  the  act 
of  speaking  to  St.  Peter,  who  has  fallen  on  his  knees 
before  him  ;  behind  him  is  a  youth,  and  a  second 
bark  is  on  the  right.  Two  men  are  busied  drawing 
up  the  nets  miraculously  laden,  while  a  third  steers. 
On  the  shore,  in  the  foreground,  stand  three  cranes ; 
and  in  the  distance  are  seen  the  people  to  whom 
Christ  had  been  preaching  out  of  the  ship  or  boat. 
In  this  cartoon  the  composition  is  very  beautiful ; 
and  the  execution,  from  its  mingled  delicacy, 
power,  and  precision,  is  supposed  to  be  almost 
entirely  from  Raphael's  own  hand.  The  effect  is 
wonderfully  bright.  In  the  broad,  clear  daylight, 
and  against  the  sky,  the  figures  stand  out  in  strong 
relief.  The  clear  lake  ripples  round  the  bark,  and 
the  figure  of  the  Saviour,  in  the  pale  blue  vest  and 
white  mantle,  appears  all  light,  and  radiant  with 
beneficence.  The  awe,  humility,  and  love,  in  the 
attitude  and  countenance  of  St.  Peter,  are  wonder 
fully  expressive.  The  masterly  drawing  in  the 
figures  of  the  apostles  in  the  second  boat  conveys 
most  strongly  the  impression  of  the  weight  they  are 
attempting  to  raise.  In  the  fish  and  the  cranes, 
all  painted  with  exquisite  and  minute  fidelity  to 
nature,  we  trace  the  hand  of  Giovanni  da  Udine. 
These  strange,  black  birds  have  here  a  grand  effect. 


RAPHAEL  SANZIO  D'tJRBINO.  255 


k<  There  is  a  certain  sea-wildness  about  them,  and, 
as  their  food  was  fish,  they  contribute  mightily  to 
express  the  affair  in  hand  ;  they  are  a  fine  part  cf 
the  scene.  They  serve  also  to  prevent  the  heavi- 
ness which  that  part  would  otherwise  have  had,  by 
breaking  the  parallel  lines  which  would  have  been 
made  by  the  boats  and  base  of  the  picture."  * 

*  "A  painter  is  allowed  sometimes  to  depart  even  from  natural 
and  historical  truth.  Thus,  in  the  cartoon  of  the  Draught  of  Fishes, 
Raphael  has  made  a  boat  too  little  to  hold  the  figures  he  has  placed 
in  it }  and  this  is  so  visible,  that  some  are  apt  to  triumph  over  that 
great  man  as  having  nodded  on  that  occasion,  while  others  have 
pretended  to  excuse  it  by  saying  it  was  done  to  make  the  miracle 
appear  greater  5  but  the  truth  is,  had  he  made  the  boat  large 
enough  for  those  figures,  his  picture  would  have  been  all  boat, 
which  would  have  had  a  disagreeable  effect ;  and  to  have  made  his 
figures  small  enough  for  a  vessel  of  that  size,  would  have  rendered 
them  unsuitable  to  the  rest  of  the  set,  and  have  made  those  figures 
appear  less  considerable.  It  is  amiss  as  it  is,  but  would  have  been 
worse  any  other  way,  as  it  frequently  happens  in  other  cases. 
Raphael,  therefore,  wisely  chose  this  lesser  inconvenience,  this 
seeming  error,  which  he  knew  the  judicious  would  know  was  none, 
and  for  the  rest  he  was  above  being  solicitous  for  his  reputation 
with  them.  So  that,  upon  the  whole,  this  is  so  far  from  being  a 
fault,  that  it  is  an  instance  of  the  consummate  judgment  of  that 
n»ost  incomparable  man,  which  he  learned  in  his  great  school,  the 
antique,  where  this  liberty  is  commonly  taken  in  an  eminent  man 
ner  in  the  Trajan  and  Antoninian  columns,  and  on  many  other 
occasions,  in  the  finest  bas-reliefs.  And  to  note  it,  by  the  by,  it 
seems  to  be  a  strange  rashness  and  self-sufficiency  in  a  spectator 
or  a  reader,  when  he  thinks  he  sees  an  absurdity  in  a  great  author, 
to  take  it  immediately  for  granted  it  is  such.  Surely  it  is  a  most 
reasonable  and  just  prejudice  in  favor  of  a  man  we  have  always 
known  to  act  with  wisdom  and  propriety  on  every  occasion,  to  sus- 
pend at  least  our  criticism,  and  cast  off  illiberal  triumph  over  him, 
and  to  suppose  it  at  least  possible  that  he  might  have  had  reasons 
that  we  are  not  aware  of."  —  Richardson,  p.  27. 


256  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


5.  Paul  and  Barnabas  at  Lystra. 

"Then  the  priest  of  Jupiter  which  was  before  their  city  brought 
oxen  and  garlands  unto  the  gates,  and  would  have  done  sacrifice 
with  the  people ;  which  when  the  apostles  Barnabas  and  Paul  heard 
of,  they  rent  their  clothes."  — Acts  14 :  13, 14. 

On  the  left  Paul  and  Barnabas  are  standing  be- 
neath a  portico,  and  appear  to  recoil  from  the  in- 
tention of  the  townsmen  to  offer  sacrifice  to  them  ; 
the  first  is  rending  his  garment  and  rebuking  a  man 
who  is  bringing  a  ram  to  be  offered.  On  the  right, 
near  the  centre,  is  seen  a  group  of  the  people  bring- 
ing forward  two  oxen  ;  a  man  is  raising  an  axe  to 
strike  one  of  them  down  ;  his  arm  is  held  back  by 
a  youth,  who,  having  observed  the  abhorrent  gesture 
of  Paul,  judges  that  the  sacrifice  will  be  offensive  to 
him.  In  the  foreground  appears  the  cripple,  no 
longer  so,  who  is  clasping  his  hands  with  an  expres- 
sion of  gratitude ;  his  crutches  lie  useless  at  his  feet. 
An  old  man,  raising  part  of  his  dress,  gazes  with  a 
look  of  astonishment  on  the  restored  limbs.  In  the 
background,  the  forum  of  Lystra,  with  several 
temples.  Towards  the  centre  is  seen  a  statue  of 
Mercury,  in  allusion  to  the  words  in  the  text : 
"  And  they  called  Paul,  Mercurius,  because  he 
was  the  chief  speaker." 

As  a  composition  this  cartoon  is  an  instance  of 
the  consummate  skill  with  which  Raphael  has  con- 
trived to  bring  together  a  variety  of  circumstances 
so  combined  as  to  make  the  story  perfectly  intelli- 
gible as  a  passing  scene,  linking  it  at  the  same 


RAPHAEL  SANZIO  D'URBINO.  257 

time  with  the  past  and  the  succeeding  time.  We 
have  the  foregone  moment  in  the  appearance  of 
the  healed  cripple,  and  the  wonder  he  excites  ;  in 
the  furious  looks  directed  against  the  apostles  by 
some  of  the  spectators  we  see  foreshadowed  the 
persecution  which  immediately  followed  this  act 
of  mistaken  adoration.  Every  part  of  the  group- 
ing, the  figures,  the  head,  both  in  drawing  and 
expression,  are  wonderful,  and  have  an  infusion  of 
the  antique  and  classical  spirit  most  proper  to  the 
subject.  The  sacrificial  group  of  the  ox,  with  the 
figure  holding  its  head  and  the  man  lifting  the 
axe,  was  taken  from  a  Roman  bas-relief  which  in 
Raphael's  time  was  in  the  Villa  Medici,  and  the 
idea  varied  and  adapted  to  his  purpose  with  in- 
finite skill.  The  boys  piping  at  the  altar  are  full 
of  beauty,  and  most  gracefully  contrasted  in  char- 
acter.   The  whole  is  full  of  movement  and  interest. 

6.  St.  Paul  Preaching  at  Athens. 

"  Then  Paul  stood  in  the  midst  of  Mars'  hill,  and  said,  Ye  men 
of  Athens,  I  perceive  that  in  all  things  ye  are  too  superstitious. 
For  as  I  passed  by  and  beheld  your  devotions,  I  found  an  altar 
With  this  inscription,  To  the  unknown  God."  —  Acts  17 :  22,  23. 

Paul,  standing  on  some  elevated  steps,  is  preach- 
ing to  the  Athenians  in  the  Areopagus  ;  behind  him 
are  three  philosophers  of  the  different  sects,  the 
Cynic,  the  Epicurean,  and  the  Platonic ;  beyond, 
a  group  of  sophists  disputing  among  each  other. 
On  the  right  are  seen  the  half-figures  of  Dionysiua 
17 


258  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


the  Areopagite  and  the  woman  Damaris,  of  whom 
it  is  expressly  said  that  they  4 1  believed  and  clav$ 
unto  hiin."  On  the  same  side,  in  the  background, 
is  seen  the  statue  of  Mars,  in  front  of  a  circular 
temple.  In  point  of  pictorial  composition,  this  car- 
toon is  one  of  the  finest  in  the  series.  St.  Paul, 
elevated  above  his  auditors,  grandly  dignified  in 
bearing,  as  one  divinely  inspired,  lofty  in  stature 
and  position,  "  stands  like  a  tower."  This  figure 
of  St.  Paul  has  been  imitated  from  the  fresco  of 
Masaccio  in  the  Carmine  at  Florence.  There  Paul 
is  represented  as  visiting  St.  Peter  in  prison.  One 
arm  only  is  raised,  the  forefinger  pointing  upward ; 
he  is  speaking  words  of  consolation  to  him  through 
the  grated  bars  of  his  dungeon,  behind  which  ap- 
pears the  form  of  St.  Peter.  Raphael  has  taken 
the  idea  of  the  figure,  raised  the  two  arms,  and 
given  the  whole  an  air  of  inspired  energy  wanting 
in  the  original.  The  persons  who  surround  him 
are  not  to  be  considered  a  mere  promiscuous  as- 
semblage of  individuals  ;  among  them  several  fig- 
ures may  each  be  said  to  personify  a  class,  and  the 
different  sects  of  Grecian  philosophy  may  be  easily 
distinguished.  Here  the  Cynic,  revolving  deeply, 
and  fabricating  objections  ;  there  the  Stoic,  leaning 
on  his  staff,  giving  a  steady  but  scornful  attention, 
and  fixed  in  obstinate  incredulity  ;  there  the  dis- 
ciples of  Plato,  not  conceding  a  full  belief,  but 
pleased  at  least  with  the  beauty  of  the  doctrine, 
and  listening  with  gratified  attention.    Further  on 


RAPHAEL  SANZIO  D'URBINO.  259 


is  a  promiscuous  group  of  disputants,  sophists,  and 
freethinkers,  engaged  in  vehement  discussion,  but 
apparently  more  bent  on  exhibiting  their  own  in- 
genuity than  anxious  to  elicit  truth  or  acknowledge 
conviction.  At  a  considerable  distance  in  the  back- 
ground are  seen  two  doctors  of  the  Jewish  law. 
The  varied  groups,  the  fine  thinking  heads  among 
the  auditors,  the  expression  of  curiosity,  reflection, 
doubt,  conviction,  faith,  as  revealed  in  the  different 
countenances  and  attitudes,  are  all  as  fine  as  pos- 
sible ;  particularly  the  man  who  has  wrapped  his 
robe  around  him,  and  appears  buried  in  thought. 
"  This  figure  also  is  borrowed  from  Masaccio.  The 
closed  eyes,  which  in  Masaccio  might  be  easily  mis- 
taken for  sleeping,  are  not  in  the  least  ambiguous 
in  the  cartoon ;  his  eyes,  indeed,  are  closed,  but 
they  are  closed  with  such  vehemence  that  the  agita- 
tion of  a  mind  perplexed  in  the  extreme  is  seen  at 
the  first  glance.  But  what  is  most  extraordinary, 
and  I  think  particularly  to  be  admired,  is  that  the 
same  idea  is  continued  through  the  whole  figure, 
even  to  the  drapery,  which  is  so  closely  muffled 
about  him  that  even  his  hands  are  not  seen.  By 
this  happy  correspondence  between  the  expression 
of  the  countenance  and  the  disposition  of  the  parts, 
the  figure  appears  to  think  from  head  to  foot."  * 


*  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds. 


260  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS, 


7.  The  Charge  to  St.  Peter. 

M  Feed  my  sheep."  —  John  21 :  16. 

Christ  is  standing  and  pointing  with  the  right 
hand  to  a  flock  of  sheep  ;  his  left  hand  is  extended 
towards  Peter,  who,  holding  the  key,  kneels  at  his 
feet.  The  other  ten  apostles  stand  behind  him, 
listening  with  various  gestures  and  expression  to 
the  words  of  the  Saviour.  In  the  background  a 
landscape,  and  on  the  right  the  Lake  of  Gennesareth 
and  a  fisher's  bark.  In  the  tapestry  the  white  robe 
of  our  Saviour  is  strewed  with  golden  stars,  which 
has  a  beautiful  effect,  and  doubtless  existed  in  the 
cartoon,  though  no  trace  of  this  is  now  visible. 

As  the  transaction  here  represented  took  place 
between  Christ  and  St.  Peter  only,  there  was  little 
room  for  dramatic  effect.  Richardson  praises  the 
introduction  of  the  sheep,  as  the  only  means  of 
making  the  incident  intelligible  ;  but  I  agree  with 
Dr.  Waagen  that  herein  Raphael  has  perhaps,  in 
avoiding  one  error,  fallen  into  another,  and,  not 
able  to  give  us  the  real  meaning  of  the  words,  has 
turned  into  a  palpable  object  what  was  merely  a 
figurative  expression,  and  thus  produced  an  ambi* 
guity  of  another  and  of  a  more  unpleasant  kind. 

The  figure  of  Christ  is  wonderfully  noble  in  con- 
ception and  treatment ;  the  heads  of  the  apostles 
finely  diversified  :  in  some  we  see  only  affectionate 
acquiescence,  duteous  submission  ;  in  others  won- 
der, displeasure,  and  jealous  discontent  The 


RAPHAEL  SANZIO  D'UKBINO. 


261 


figures  of  the  apostles  are  in  the  cartoon  happily 
relieved  from  each  other  by  variety  of  local  tint, 
which  cannot  be  given  in  a  print,  and  hence  tho 
heavy  effect  of  the  composition  when  studied  through 
the  engraving  only. 

These  are  the  subjects  of  the  famous  Cartoons  of 
Raphael.  To  describe  the  effect  of  the  light  and 
sketchy  treatment,  so  easy,  and  yet  so  large  and 
grand  in  style,  we  shall  borrow  the  words  of  an  elo- 
quent writer. 

"  Compared  with  these,"  says  Hazlitt,  as  finely 
as  truly,  "  all  other  pictures  look  like  oil  and  var- 
nish ;  we  are  stopped  and  attracted  by  the  color- 
ing, the  pencilling,  the  finishing,  the  instrument- 
alities of  art ;  but  here  the  painter  seems  to  have 
flung  his  mind  upon  the  canvas.  His  thoughts, 
his  great  ideas  alone,  prevail ;  there  is  nothing 
between  us  and  the  subject ;  we  look  through  a 
frame  and  see  Scripture  histories,  and  are  made 
actual  spectators  in  miraculous  events.  Not  to 
speak  it  profanely,  they  are  a  sort  of  a  revelation 
of  the  subjects  of  which  they  treat ;  there  is  an 
ease  and  freedom  of  manner  about  them  which 
brings  preternatural  characters  and  situations  home 
to  us  with  the  familiarity  of  every-day  occurrences  ; 
and  while  the  figures  fill,  raise,  and  satisfy  the 
mind,  they  seem  to  have  cost  the  painter  nothing. 
Everywhere  else  we  see  the  means  ;  here  we  arrive 
*t  the  end  apparently  without  any  means.  There 


262  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 

is  a  spirit  at  work  in  the  divine  creation  before  us  \ 
we  are  unconscious  of  any  steps  taken,  of  any  prog 
ress  made  ;  we  are  aware  only  of  comprehensive 
results  —  of  whole  masses  of  figures  :  the  sense  of 
power  supersedes  the  appearance  of  effort.  It  is  as 
if  we  had  ourselves  seen  these  persons  and  things 
at  some  former  state  of  our  being,  and  that  the 
drawing  certain  lines  upon  coarse  paper  by  some 
unknown  spell  brought  back  the  entire  and  living 
images,  and  made  them  pass  before  us,  palpable  to 
thought,  feeling,  sight.  Perhaps  not  all  this  is 
owing  to  genius ;  something  of  this  effect  may  be 
ascribed  to  the  simplicity  of  the  vehicle  employed 
in  embodying  the  story,  and  something  to  the  de- 
caying and  dilapidated  state  of  the  pictures  them- 
selves. They  are  the  more  majestic  for  being  in 
ruins.  We  are  struck  chiefly  with  the  truth  of 
proportion,  and  the  r^tige  of  conception  —  all  made 
spiritual.  The  corru  ptible  has  put  on  incorrup- 
tion  ;  and,  amidst  the  'reck  of  color  and  the  mould- 
ering of  material  be*  ity,  nothing  is  left  but  a 
universe  of  thought,  f  *  the  broad  imminent  shad- 
ows of 4  calm  contemplation  and  majestic  pains.'  " 
There  exist  two  sets  of  copies  of  the  same  size 
as  the  originals  :  one  executed  by  Sir  James  Thorn- 
hill,  and  presented  by  the  Duke  of  Bedford  to  the 
Royal  Academy ;  and  another  set  presented  by 
the  Duke  of  Marlborough  to  the  University  of 
Oxford. 

It  is  a  matter  of  regret,  but  hardly  of  surprise* 


RAPHAEL  SANZiO  D'URBINO.  263 


that  the  cartoons  have  never  yet  been  adequately 
engraved.  The  first  complete  series  which  appeared 
was  by  Simon  Gribelin,  a  French  engraver,  who 
came  over  in  1680,  and  was  published  in  the  reign 
of  Queen  Anne.  The  prints  are  small,  neat  memo- 
randa of  the  compositions,  nothing  more. 

The  second  set  was  executed  by  Sir  Nicholas 
Dorigny,  who  undertook  the  work  under  the 
patronage  of  the  government,  and  presented  to  the 
king,  George  I.,  in  1719,  two  sets  of  the  finished 
engravings ;  on  which  occasion  the  king  bestowed 
on  him  a  purse  of  one  hundred  guineas,  and,  at 
the  request  of  the  Duke  of  Devonshire,  knighted 
him.  These  engravings  are  large,  and  tolerably 
but  coarsely  executed,  and  are  preferred  by  con- 
noisseurs ;  but  on  the  whole  they  are  poor  as  works 
of  art. 

There  are  two  small  sets  in  mezzotinto,  and 
another  small  set  by  Filtler. 

The  set  of  large  engravings  by  Thomas  Holloway 
was  begun  by  him  in  1800,  and  was  not  quite  com- 
pleted at  his  death,  in  ]826.  These  engravings 
have  been  praised  for  the  "  finished  and  elaborate 
style  in  which  they  have  been  executed,"  and  they 
deserve  this  praise ;  but,  as  transcripts  of  the  car- 
toons, they  are  altogether  false  in  point  of  style. 
They  are  too  metallic,  too  mechanical,  too  labored  ; 
a  set  of  masterly  etchings  would  better  convey  an 
impression  of  the  slight,  free  execution,  the  spiritual 
ease,  of  the  originals.    These  engravings  give  one 


264  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


the  idea  of  being  done  from  highly-finished,  deeply- 
colored  oil-pictures. 

Since  1837  a  large  set  has  been  commenced  by 
John  Burnett,  in  a  mixed,  rather  coarse  style,  but 
effective  and  spirited  ;  they  are  sold  at  a  cheap  rate. 

Lastly,  a  set  has  been  commenced  by  Mr.  L. 
Griiner,  whose  exquisite  taste  and  classical  style  of 
engraving,  as  well  as  his  profound  acquaintance 
with  the  works  and  genius  of  Raphael,  render  him 
particularly  fit  for  the  task. 

Raphael  finished  these  cartoons  in  1516.  They 
are  all  from  fourteen  to  eighteen  feet  in  length, 
and  about  twelve  feet  high  ;  the  figures  above  life- 
size,  drawn  with  chalk  upon  strong  paper,  and 
colored  in  distemper.  He  received  for  his  designs 
four  hundred  and  thirty-four  gold  ducats  (about  six 
hundred  and  fifty  pounds) ,  which  were  paid  to  him, 
three  hundred  on  the  15th  of  June,  1515,  and  one 
hundred  and  thirty-four  in  December,  1516.  The 
rich  tapestries  worked  from  these  cartoons,  in  wool, 
silk,  and  gold,  were  completed  at  Arras,  and  sent 
to  Rome,  in  1519.  For  these  the  pope  paid  to  the 
manufacturer  at  Arras  fifty  thousand  gold  ducats  ; 
they  were  exhibited  for  the  first  time  on  St.  Ste- 
phen's Day,  December  26,  1519.  Raphael  had  the 
satisfaction,  before  he  died,  of  seeing  them  hung  in 
their  places,  and  of  witnessing  the  wonder  and 
applause  they  excited  through  the  whole  city. 
Their  subsequent  fate  was  very  curious  and  event- 
ful.   In  the  sack  of  Rome,  in  1527,  they  were  car- 


RAPHAEL  SANZIO  D'URBINO. 


265 


ried  away  by  the  French  soldiery ;  but  were  re- 
stored, in  1553,  during  the  reign  of  Pope  Julius 
III.,  by  the  Due  de  Montmorenci,  all  but  the  piece 
which  represented  the  Coronation  of  the  Virgin, 
which  is  supposed  to  have  been  burned  for  the  sake 
of  the  gold  thread.  Again,  in  1798,  they  made  part 
of  the  French  spoliations,  and  were  actually  sold 
to  a  Jew  at  Leghorn,  who  burnt  one  of  them  for 
the  purpose  of  extracting  the  precious  metal  con- 
tained in  the  threads.  As  it  was  found,  however, 
to  furnish  very  little,  the  proprietor  judged  it  better 
to  allow  the  others  to  retain  their  original  shape, 
and  they  were  soon  afterwards  repurchased  from 
him  by  the  agents  of  Pius  VII.,  and  reinstated  in 
the  galleries  of  the  Vatican.  Several  sets  of  tapes- 
tries were  worked  from  the  cartoons  :  one  was  sent 
as  a  present  to  Henry  VIII.,  and  after  the  death 
of  Charles  I.  sold  into  Spain  ;  another  of  the  same 
set  was  exhibited  in  London  about  a  year  ago,  and 
has  since  been  sold  to  the  King  of  Prussia. 

While  all  Rome  was  indulging  in  ecstasies  over 
the  rich  and  dearly-paid  tapestries,  which  were  not 
then,  and  are  still  less  now,  worth  one  of  the  car- 
toons, these  precious  productions  of  the  artist's  own 
mind  were  lying  in  the  warehouse  of  the  weaver  at 
Arras,  neglected  and  forgotten.  Some  were  torn 
into  fragments,  and  parts  of  them  exist  in  various 
collections.  Seven  still  remained  in  some  garret  or 
cellar,  when  Rubens,  just  a  century  afterwards, 
mentioned  their  existence  to  Charles  I.,  and  advised 


266  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


him  to  purchase  them  for  the  use  of  a  tapestry 
manufactory  which  King  James  I.  had  established 
at  Mortlake.  The  purchase  was  made.  They  had 
been  cut  into  long  slips  about  two  feet  wide,  for 
the  convenience  of  the  workmen,  and  in  this  state 
they  arrived  in  England. *  On  Charles'  death, 
Cromwell  bought  them,  at  the  sale  of  the  royal 
effects,  for  three  hundred  pounds.  We  had  very 
nearly  lost  them  again  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II. ; 
for  Louis  XIV.  having  intimated,  through  his  am- 
bassador Barillon,  a  wish  to  possess  them  at  any 
price,  the  needy,  careless  Charles  was  on  the  point 
of  yielding  them,  and  would  have  done  so  but  for 
the  representations  of  the  Lord  Treasurer  Danby, 
to  whom,  in  fact,  we  owe  it  that  they  were  not 
ceded  to  France.  They  remained,  however,  neg- 
lected in  one  of  the  lumber-rooms  at  Whitehall 
till  the  reign  of  William  III.,  and  narrowly  escaped 
being  destroyed  by  fire  when  Whitehall  was  burned, 
in  1698.  It  must  have  been  shortly  after  that  King 
William  ordered  them  to  be  repaired,  the  frag- 
ments pasted  together,  and  stretched  upon  linen  ; 

*  There  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  purpose  for  which  Charles  I  ac- 
quired them.  The  entry  in  the  king's  catalogue  runs  thus  :  '  In 
a  slit  wooden  case  some  two  cartoons  of  Raphael  Urbino's,  for 
hangings  to  be  made  by ;  and  the  other  five  are,  by  the  king's  ap- 
pointment, delivered  to  Mr.  Francis  Cleyne,  at  Mortlake,  to  make 
hangings  by."  It  appears  that  Cromwell  had  some  intentku  of 
continuing  the  manufactory  of  tapestry  at  Mortlake  as  a  national 
undertaking,  and  retained  the  cartoons  for  purposes  connected 
with  it. 


RAPHAEL  SANZIO  D'URBINO.  267 


and  being  just  at  that  time  occupied  with  the 
alterations  and  improvements  at  Hampton  Court> 
Sir  Christopher  Wren  had  his  commands  to  plan 
and  erect  a  room  expressly  to  receive  them,  —  the 
room  in  which  they  now  hang. 

In  the  Vatican  there  is  a  second  set  of  ten  tapes- 
tries, for  which  Raphael  gave  the  original  designs  ; 
but  he  did  not  execute  the  cartoons,  and  the  style 
of  drawing  in  those  fragments  which  remain  is  not 
his.  A  very  fine  fragment  of  one  of  these  cartoons, 
The  Massacre  of  the  Innocents,  is  in  our  National 
Gallery.  It  is  very  different  in  the  style  of  execu- 
tion from  the  cartoons  at  Hampton  Court,  and  has 
been  painted  over  in  oil,  when  or  by  whom  is  not 
known,  but  certainly  before  1730.  The  subjects 
of  the  second  set  were  all  from  the  life  of  Christ, 
and  were  as  follows  : 

1.  The  Slaughter  of  the  Innocents. 

2.  The  Adoration  of  the  Shepherds. 

3.  The  Adoration  of  the  Magi. 

4.  The  Presentation  in  the  Temple. 

5.  The  Resurrection. 

6.  The  Noli  me  Tangere. 

7.  The  Descent  into  Purgatory. 

8.  Christ  and  the  Disciples  at  Emmaus. 

9.  The  Ascension. 

10.  The  Descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
The  tapestries  of  these  subjects  still  hang  in  the 
Vatican,  and  all  have  been  engraved. 

The  fame  of  Raphael  had  by  this  time  spread  to 


268 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


other  countries.  Horace  TValpole,  in  the  "  Anec- 
dotes of  Painting,"  assures  us  that  Henry  VIII  , 
who  on  coming  to  the  throne  was  desirous  of  emu- 
lating Francis  I.  as  a  patron  of  art,  invited  Raphael 
to  his  court ;  but  he  does  not  say  on  what  authority 
he  states  this  as  a  fact.  At  all  events,  the  young 
king  was  obliged  to  content  himself  with  the  little 
St.  George  sent  to  him  by  the  Duke  of  Urbino,  as 
a  specimen  of  Raphael's  talent ;  and  with  Holbein, 
whom  he  soon  after  engaged  in  his  service,  as  his 
court  painter,  —  perhaps  the  best  substitute  for 
Raphael  in  point  of  original  genius  then  to  be  ob- 
tained by  offers  of  gold  or  patronage.  Francis  L 
was  also  most  anxious  to  attract  Raphael  to  his 
court ;  and  not  succeeding,  he  desired  to  have  a 
picture  by  his  hand,  leaving  him  the  choice  of  sub- 
ject. As  Raphael  had  chosen  St.  George  as  the 
fittest  subject  for  the  King  of  England,  he  now, 
with  equal  propriety  and  taste,  chose  St.  Michael, 
the  patron  saint  of  the  most  celebrated  military 
order  in  France,  as  likely  to  be  the  most  acceptable 
subject  for  the  French  king,  and  represented  the 
archangel  as  victorious  over  the  Spirit  of  Evil.  The 
figures  are  as  large  as  life.  St.  Michael,  beaming 
with  angelic  beauty  and  power,  stands  with  one 
foot  on  the  Evil  One,  and  raises  his  lance  to  thrust 
him  down  to  the  deep.  Satan  is  so  represented 
that  very  little  of  his  hideous  and  prostrate  form  is 
visible,  the  grand  victorious  spirit  filling  the  whole 
canvas  and  the  eye  of  the  spectator.    The  king  ex- 


RAPHAEL  SANZIO  d'uRRINO.  269 


pressed  his  satisfaction  in  a  right  royal  and  grace- 
ful fashion,  and  rewarded  the  artist  munificently. 
Raphael,  considering  himself  overpaid,  and  not  to 
bo  outdone  in  generosity,  sent  to  the  king  his 
famous  Holy  Family  (called  The  large  Holy  Family, 
because  the  figures  are  life-size) ,  in  which  the  infant 
Christ  is  seen  in  act  to  spring  from  the  cradle  into 
his  mother's  arms,  while  angels  scatter  flowers  from 
above.  Engravings  and  copies  without  number 
exist  of  this  famous  picture.  The  original  is  in  the 
gallery  of  the  Louvre.  Raphael  sent  also  his  St. 
Margaret  overcoming  the  Dragon,  a  compliment 
apparently  to  the  king's  favorite  sister,  Margaret, 
Queen  of  Navarre :  this  also  is  in  the  Louvre. 
When  they  were  placed  before  Francis  L,  he  ordered 
his  treasurer  to  count  out  twenty-four  thousand 
livres  (about  three  thousand  pounds,  according  to 
the  present  value  of  money) ,  and  sent  it  to  the 
painter  with  the  strongest  expressions  of  his  appro- 
bation. At  a  later  period  he  purchased  the  beauti- 
ful portrait  of  Joanna  of  Arragon,  vice-queen  of 
Naples,  which  is  also  in  the  Louvre. 

About  the  same  period  (that  is,  between  1517 
and  1520)  Raphael  painted  for  the  convent  of  St. 
Sixtus,  at  Piacenza,  one  of  the  grandest  and  most 
celebrated  of  all  his  works,  called,  from  its  original 
destination,  the  Madonna  di  San  Sisto.  It  repre- 
sents the  Virgin  standing  in  a  majestic  attitude , 
the  infant  Saviour  enthroned  in  her  arms  ;  and 
around  her  head  a  glory  of  innumerable  cherubs 


270  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


melting  into  light.  Kneeling  before  her  we  see  on 
one  side  St.  Sixtus,  on  the  other  St  Barbara,  and 
beneath  her  feet  two  heavenly  cherubs  gaze  up  in 
adoration.  In  execution,  as  in  design,  this  is  prob- 
ably the  most  perfect  picture  in  the  world.  It  is 
painted  throughout  by  Raphael's  own  hand ;  and 
as  no  sketch  or  study  of  any  part  of  it  was  ever 
known  to  exist,  and  as  the  execution  must  have 
been,  from  the  thinness  and  delicacy  of  the  colors, 
wonderfully  rapid,  it  is  supposed  that  he  painted  it 
at  once  on  the  canvas  —  a  creation  rather  than  a 
picture.  In  the  beginning  of  the  last  century  the 
Elector  of  Saxony,  Augustus  III.,  purchased  this 
picture  from  the  monks  of  the  convent  for  the  sum 
of  sixty  thousand  florins  (about  six  thousand 
pounds),  and  it  now  forms  the  chief  boast  and 
ornament  of  the  Dresden  Gallery.  The  finest  en- 
graving is  that  of  Frederic  Miiller,  good  impressions 
of  which  are  worth  twenty  or  thirty  guineas  ;  but 
there  is  also  a  very  beautiful  and  faithful  lithograph 
by  Hofstangel,  which  may  be  purchased  for  half  as 
many  shillings. 

For  his  patron  Agostino  Chigi,  Raphael  painted 
in  fresco  the  history  of  Cupid  and  Psyche.  The 
palace  which  belonged  to  the  Chigi  family  is  now 
the  Villa  Farnesina,  on  the  walls  of  which  these 
famous  frescoes  may  still  be  seen  in  very  good  pre- 
servation. In  Gniner's  admirable  work  on  the 
"  Decoration  of  the  Palaces  and  Churches  in  Italy  " 
there  is  a  perspective  view  of  the  corridor  of  th« 


RAPHAEL  SANZIO  d'uRBINO.  271 


Farnesma,  showing  how  this  beautiful  series  of 
compositions  is  arranged  on  the  ceiling  and  walls. 
In  the  same  palace  he  painted  the  Triumph  of 
Galatea.  In  this  fresco  he  was  greatly  assisted 
by  Giulio  Romano. 

During  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life  the  fame  of 
Raphael  was  very  much  extended  by  means  of  the 
engraver  Marc  Antonio  Raimondi,  who,  after  study- 
ing design  in  the  school  of  Francia  at  Bologna, 
betook  himself  to  Rome,  and  gained  the  admira- 
tion and  good-will  of  Raphael  by  the  perfect  en- 
gravings he  made  from  some  of  his  beautiful  works. 
Marc  Antonio  lived  for  some  time  in  Raphael's  own 
house,  and  engraved  for  him  and  under  his  direc- 
tion most  of  those  precious  and  exquisite  composi- 
tions, the  most  wonderful  creations  of  the  mind  of 
Raphael,  of  which  there  exist  no  finished  pictures, 
and  in  some  cases  no  drawings  nor  memoranda. 
Among  these  may  be  mentioned  a  few  which  are  to 
be  found  in  the  Print-room  of  the  British  Museum  : 
1.  The  Lucretia,  a  single  figure,  wonderfully  beau- 
tiful. 2.  The  Massacre  of  the  Innocents.  3.  Eve 
presenting  to  Adam  the  forbidden  fruit.  4.  The 
Last  Supper.  5.  The  Mater  Dolorosa,  the  Virgin 
lamenting  over  the  dead  body  of  our  Saviour.  6. 
Another  of  the  same  subject,  containing  several  fig- 
ures. These  are  only  a  few  of  the  most  precious, 
for  within  the  present  limits  it  is  impossible  to  go 
into  detail.  Some  time  after  the  death  of  Raphael, 
Marc  Antonio  was  very  deservedly  banished  from 


272 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


Rome  by  Clement  VII.  Tempted  by  gold,  he  had 
lent  his  unrivalled  skill  to  shameful  purposes.  Ac- 
cording to  Malvasia,  he  was  afterwards  assassinated 
at  Bologna. 

The  last  great  picture  which  Raphael  undertook, 
and  which  at  the  time  of  his  death  was  not  quite 
completed,  was  the  Transfiguration  of  our  Savioui 
on  Mount  Tabor.  This  picture  is  divided  into  two 
parts.  The  lower  part  contains  a  crowd  of  figures, 
and  is  full  of  passion,  energy,  action.  In  the 
centre  is  the  demoniac  boy,  convulsed  and  strug- 
gling in  the  arms  of  his  father.  Two  women, 
kneeling,  implore  assistance  ;  others  are  seen  cry- 
ing aloud  and  stretching  out  their  arms  for  aid. 
In  the  disciples  of  Jesus  we  see  exhibited,  in  vari- 
ous shades  of  expression,  astonishment,  horror, 
sympathy,  profound  thought.  One  among  them, 
with  a  benign  and  youthful  countenance,  looks 
compassionately  on  the  father,  plainly  intimating 
that  he  can  give  no  help.  The  upper  part  of 
the  picture  represents  Mount  Tabor.  The  three 
apostles  lie  prostrate,  dazzled,  on  the  earth  ;  above 
them,  transfigured  in  glory,  floats  the  divine  form 
of  the  Saviour,  with  Moses  and  Elias  on  either 
side.  "  The  two-fold  action  contained  in  this 
picture,  to  which  shallow  critics  have  taken  ex- 
ception, is  explained  historically  and  satisfacto- 
rily merely  by  the  fact  that  the  incident  of  the 
possessed  boy  occurred  in  the  absence  of  Christ ; 
but  it  explains  itself  in  a  still  higher  sense,  when 


RAPHAEL  SANZIO  D'URBINO.  273 

we  consider  the  deeper  universal  meaning  of  the 
picture.  For  this  purpose  it  is  not  even  neces- 
sary to  consult  the  books  of  the  New  Testament 
for  the  explanation  of  the  particular  incidents  : 
the  lower  portion  represents  the  calamities  and 
miseries  of  human  life,  the  rule  of  demoniac 
power,  the  weakness  even  of  the  faithful  when 
unassisted,  and  directs  them  to  look  on  high  for 
aid  and  strength  in  adversity.  Above,  in  the 
brightness  of  divine  bliss,  undisturbed  by  the 
sufferings  of  the  lower  world,  we  behold  the 
source  of  our  consolation  and  of  our  redemption 
from  evil." 

At  this  time  the  lovers  of  painting  at  Home 
were  divided  in  opinion  as  to  the  relative  merits 
of  Michael  Angelo  and  Raphael,  and  formed  two 
great  parties,  that  of  Raphael  being  by  far  the 
most  numerous. 

Michael  Angelo,  with  characteristic  haughtiness, 
disdained  any  open  rivalry  with  Raphael,  and  put 
forward  the  Venetian,  Sebastian  del  Piombo,  as  no 
unworthy  competitor  of  the  great  Roman  painter. 
Raphael  bowed  before  Michael  Angelo,  and,  with 
the  modesty  and  candor  which  belonged  to  his 
character,  was  heard  to  thank  heaven  that  he  had 
been  born  in  the  same  age  and  enabled  to  profit  by 
the  grand  creations  of  that  sublime  genius.  But 
he  was  by  no  means  inclined  to  yield  any  suprem- 
acy to  Sebastian  ;  he  kn*w  his  own  strength  too 
well.  To  decide  the  .vmtroversy,  the  Cardinal 
18 


274 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


Giulio  de'  Medici,  afterwards  Pope  Clement  VH  , 
commissioned  Raphael  to  paint  this  picture  of  the 
Transfiguration,  and  at  the  same  time  commanded 
from  Sebastian  del  Piombo  the  Raising  of  Lazarus, 
which  is  now  in  our  National  Gallery  (No.  1). 
Both  pictures  were  intended  by  the  cardinal  for 
his  cathedral  at  Narbonne,  he  having  lately  been 
created  Archbishop  of  Narbonne,  by  Francis  I. 
Michael  Angelo,  well  aware  that  Sebastian  was  a 
far  better  colorist  than  designer,  furnished  him 
with  the  cartoon  for  his  picture,  and,  it  is  said, 
drew  some  of  the  figures  (that  of  Lazarus,  for 
example)  with  his  own  hand  on  the  panel ;  but 
he  was  so  far  from  doing  this  secretly,  that  Ra- 
phael heard  of  it,  and  exclaimed,  joyfully,  "  Mi- 
chael Angelo  has  graciously  favored  me,  in  that 
he  has  deemed  me  worthy  to  compete  with  him- 
self, and  not  with  Sebastian  !  "  But  he  did  not 
live  to  enjoy  the  triumph  of  his  acknowledged 
superiority,  dying  before  he  had  finished  his  pic- 
ture, which  was  afterwards  completed  by  the  hand 
of  Giulio  Romano. 

During  the  last  years  of  his  life,  and  while  en- 
gaged in  painting  the  Transfiguration,  Raphael's 
active  mind  was  employed  on  many  other  things. 
He  had  been  appointed  by  the  pope  to  superin- 
tend the  building  of  St.  Peter's,  and  he  prepared 
the  architectural  plans  for  that  vast  undertaking. 
He  was  most  active  and  zealous  in  carrying  out  the 
pope's  project  for  disinterring  and  preserving  the 


RAPHAEL  SANZIO  D'ORBINO. 


275 


remains  of  art  which  lay  buried  beneath  the  ruins 
of  ancient  Rome.  A  letter  is  yet  extant  addressed 
by  Raphael  to  Pope  Leo  X.,  in  whioh  he  lays  down 
a  systematic,  well-considered  plan  for  excavating 
by  degrees  the  whole  of  the  ancient  city  ;  and  a 
writer  of  that  time  has  left  a  Latin  epigram  to 
this  purpose  —  that  Raphael  had  sought  and  found 
in  Rome  "another  Eo?ne.''7  —  "  To  seek  it,"  adds 
the  poet,  "  was  worthy  of  a  great  man  ;  to  reveal 
it,  worthy  of  a  god."  He  also  made  several  draw- 
ings and  models  for  sculpture,  particularly  for  a 
statue  of  Jonah,  now  in  the  church  of  Santa 
Maria  del  Popolo.  Nor  was  this  all.  With  a 
princely  magnificence,  he  had  sent  artists  at  his 
own  cost  to  various  parts  of  Italy  and  into  Greece, 
to  make  drawings  from  those  remains  of  antiquity 
which  his  numerous  and  important  avocations 
prevented  him  from  visiting  himself.  He  was  in 
close  intimacy  and  correspondence  with  most  of 
the  celebrated  men  of  his  time  ;  interested  him- 
self in  all  that  was  going  forward  ;  mingled  ir, 
society,  lived  in  splendor,  and  was  always  ready 
to  assist  generously  his  own  family,  and  the  pupila 
who  had  gathered  round  him.  The  Cardinal  Bib- 
biena  offered  him  his  niece  in  marriage,  with  a 
dowry  of  three  thousand  gold  crowns  ;  but  the 
early  death  of  Maria  di  Bibbiena  prevented  this 
union,  for  which  it  appears  that  Raphael  himself 
had  no  great  inclination.  In  possession  of  all 
that  ambition  could  desire,  for  him  the  cup  of  life 


276 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


was  still  running  over  with  love,  hcpe,  power, 
glory  —  when,  in  the  very  prime  of  manhood,  and 
in  the  midst  of  vast  undertakings,  he  was  seized 
with  a  violent  fever,  —  caught,  it  is  said,  in  super- 
intending some  subterranean  excavations,  —  and  ex 
pired  after  an  illness  of  fourteen  days.  His  death 
took  place  on  Good  Friday  (his  birth-day),  April 
6,  1520,  having  completed  his  thirty-seventh  year. 
Great  was  the  grief  of  all  classes  ;  unspeakable 
that  of  his  friends  and  scholars.  The  pope  had 
sent  every  day  to  inquire  after  his  health,  adding 
the  most  kind  and  cheering  messages  ;  and  when 
told  that  the  beloved  and  admired  painter  was  no 
more,  he  broke  out  into  lamentations  on  his  own 
and  the  world's  loss.  The  body  was  laid  on  a  bed 
of  state,  and  above  it  was  suspended  the  last  work 
of  that  divine  hand,  the  glorious  Transfiguration. 
From  his  own  house  near  St.  Peter's  a  multitude 
of  all  ranks  followed  the  bier  in  sad  procession  ; 
and  his  remains  were  laid  in  the  church  of  the 
Pantheon,  near  those  of  his  betrothed  bride,  Maria 
di  Bibbiena,  in  a  spot  chosen  by  himself  during 
his  lifetime. 

Several  years  ago  (in  the  year  1833)  there  arose 
among  the  antiquarians  of  Rome  a  keen  dispute 
concerning  a  human  skull,  which,  on  no  evidence 
whatever,  except  a  long-received  tradition,  had 
been  preserved  and  exhibited  in  the  Academy  of 
St.  Luke,  at  the  skull  of  Raphael,  Some  even 
expressed  a  doubt  as  to  the  exact  place  of  hia 


RAPHAEL  SANZIO  D'URBINO  277 


sepulchre,  though  upon  this  point  the  contempo- 
rary testimony  seemed  to  leave  no  room  for  uncer- 
tainty To  ascertain  the  fact,  permission  waa 
obtained  from  the  papal  government,  and  from 
the  canons  of  the  church  of  the  Rotunda  (that  is, 
of  the  Pantheon) ,  to  make  some  researches ;  and 
on  the  fourteenth  of  September,  in  the  same  year, 
after  five  days  spent  in  removing  the  pavement  in 
several  places,  the  remains  of  Raphael  were  dis- 
covered in  a  vault  behind  the  high  altar,  and  cer- 
tified as  his  by  indisputable  proofs.  After  being 
examined,  and  a  cast  made  from  the  skull  and 
from  the  right  hand,  the  skeleton  was  exhibited 
publicly  in  a  glass  case,  and  multitudes  thronged 
to  the  church  to  look  upon  it.  On  the  18th  of 
October,  1833,  a  second  funeral  ceremony  took 
place.  The  remains  were  deposited  in  a  pine-wood 
coffin,  then  in  a  marble  sarcophagus,  presented  by 
the  pope  (Gregory  XVI.), and  reverently  consigned 
to  their  former  resting-place,  in  presence  of  more 
than  three  thousand  spectators,  including  almost 
all  the  artists,  the  officers  of  government,  and  other 
persons  of  the  highest  rank  in  Rome. 


Besides  his  grand  compositions  from  the  Old  and 
New  Testament,  and  his  frescoes  and  arabesques  in 
the  Vatican,  Raphael  has  left  about  one  hundred 
and  twenty  pictures  of  the  Virgin  and  Child ,  all 
various  —  only  resembling  each  other  in  the  pecu- 


278 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


liar  type  of  chaste  and  maternal  loveliness  which 
he  has  given  to  the  Virgin,  and  the  infantine 
beauty  of  the  Child.  The  most  celebrated  of  his 
Madonnas,  in  the  order  in  which  they  were 
painted,  are  :  1.  The  Madonna  di  Foligno,  in 
the  Vatican.  2.  The  Madonna  of  the  Fish,  at 
Madrid.  3.  The  Madonna  del  Cardellino,  at  Flor- 
ence. 4.  The  Madonna  di  San  Sisto,  at  Dresden. 
5.  The  Madonna  called  the  Pearl,  at  Madrid. 
Eight  of  his  Madonna  pictures  are  in  England, 
in  private  galleries. 

There  are  but  few  pictures  taken  from  mythol- 
ogy and  profane  history,  the  Cupid  and  Psyche  and 
the  Galatea  being  the  most  important ;  but  a  vast 
number  of  drawings  and  compositions,  some  of 
them  of  consummate  beauty. 

He  painted  about  eighty  portraits,  of  which  the 
most  famous  are  Julius  II. ;  Leo  X.  (the  originals 
of  both  these  are  at  Florence)  ;  Cardinal  Bibbiena ; 
Cardinal  Bembo  ;  and  Count  Castiglione  (the  last 
at  Paris)  ;  the  Youth  with  his  Violin,  at  Rome  ; 
Bin  do  Altoviti,  supposed  for  a  long  time  to  be  his 
own  portrait,  now  at  Munich  ;  the  beautiful  Joan- 
na of  Arragon,  in  the  Louvre.  The  portrait  called 
the  Fornarina  had  long  been  supposed  to  represent 
a  young  girl  to  whom  Raphael  had  attached  him- 
self soon  after  his  arrival  in  Rome  ;  but  this  appears 
very  doubtful :  Passavant  supposes  it  to  represent 
Beatrice  Pio,  a  celebrated  improvisa trice  of  that 
time.     Besides  these,  we  have  seventeen  architee* 


RAPHAEL  SANZIO  d'uRBINO.  279 


tural  designs  for  buildings,  public  and  private,  and 
several  designs  for  sculpture,  ornaments,  &c.  But 
it  is  not  any  single  production  of  his  hand,  how- 
ever rarely  beautiful,  nor  his  superiority  in  any 
particular  department  of  art ;  it  is  the  number 
and  the  variety  of  his  creations,  the  union  of  inex- 
haustible fertility  of  imagination  with  excellence 
of  every  kind,  —  faculties  never  combined  in  the 
same  degree  in  any  artist  before  or  since,  —  which 
have  placed  Raphael  at  the  head  of  his  profession, 
and  have  rendered  him  the  wonder  and  delight  of 
all  ages. 

We  shall  now  proceed  to  give  an  account  of  some 
of  Raphael's  most  famous  scholars. 


THE  SCHOLARS  OF  RAPHAEL. 

We  have  already  had  occasion  to  observe  the 
great  number  of  scholars,  some  of  them  older  than 
himself,  who  had  assembled  round  Raphael,  and 
the  unusual  harmony  in  which  they  lived  together. 
Vasari  relates  that,  when  he  went  to  court,  a  train 
of  fifty  painters  attended  on  him  from  his  own 
house  to  the  Vatican.  They  came  from  every  part 
of  Italy :  from  Florence,  Milan,  Venice,  Bologna, 
Ferrara,  Naples,  and  even  from  beyond  the  Alps,  to 
study  under  the  great  Roman  master.  Many  of 
them  assisted,  with  more  or  less  skill,  in  the  execu- 
tion of  his  great  works  in  fresco  ;  some  imitated 
him  in  one  thing,  some  in  another ;  but  the  un- 
rivalled charm  of  Raphael's  productions  lies  in  the 
impress  of  the  mind  which  produced  them  :  this  he 
could  not  impart  to  others.  Those  who  followed 
servilely  a  particular  manner  of  conception  and 
drawing,  which  they  called  "  Raphael's  style,"  de- 
generated into  insipidity  and  littleness.  Those  wh) 
had  original  power  deviated  into  exaggerations  and 
perversities.  Not  one  among  them  approached 
him.  Some  caught  a  faint  reflection  of  his  grace, 
some  of  his  power  :  but  they  turned  it  to  other  pur 

(280) 


SCHOLARS  OF  RAPHAEL. 


281 


poses  ;  they  worked  in  a  different  spirit ;  they  fol- 
lowed the  fashion  of  the  hour.  While  he  lived  hia 
noble  aims  elevated  them,  but  when  he  died  they 
fell  away,  one  after  another.  The  lavish  and  mag- 
nificent Pope  Leo  X.  was  succeeded  in  1521  by 
Adrian  VI.,  a  man  conscientious  even  to  severity, 
sparing  even  to  asceticism,  and  without  any  sym- 
pathies either  for  art  or  artists.  During  his  short 
pontificate  of  two  years  all  the  works  in  the  Vatican 
and  St.  Peter's  were  suspended,  the  poor  painters 
were  starving,  and  the  dreadful  pestilence  which 
raged  in  1523  drove  many  from  the  city.  Under 
Clement  VII.,  one  of  the  Medici,  and  nephew  of 
Leo  X.,  the  arts  for  a  time  revived ;  but  the  sack 
of  Rome  by  the  barbarous  soldiery  of  Bourbon  in 
1527  completed  the  dispersion  of  the  artists  who 
had  flocked  to  the  capital :  each  returning  to  his 
native  country  or  city,  became  also  a  teacher ;  and 
thus  what  was  called  "Raphael's  School,"  or  the 
"  Roman  School,"  was  spread  from  one  end  of  Italy 
to  the  other. 

Raphael  had  left  by  his  will  his  two  favorite 
scholars,  Gian  Francesco  Penni  and  Giulio  Romano 
as  executors,  and  to  them  he  bequeathed  the  task 
of  completing  his  unfinished  works. 

Gian  Francesco  Penni,  called  II  Fattore,  was 
his  beloved  and  confidential  pupil,  and  had  assisted 
him  much,  particularly  in  preparing  his  cartoons  ; 
but  everything  he  executed  from  his  own  mind  and 
after  Raphael's  death  has,  with  much  tenderness 


282 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


and  Eaffaelesque  grace,  a  sort  of  feebleness  more  of 
mind  than  hand.  His  pictures  are  very  rare.  He 
died  in  1528. 

His  brother  Luca  Penni  was  in  England  for 
same  years  in  the  service  of  Henry  VIII.,  and  em- 
ployed by  Wolsey  in  decorating  his  palace  at 
Hampton  Court ;  some  remains  of  his  performances 
there  were  still  to  be  seen  in  the  middle  of  the  last 
century ;  but  Horace  Walpole's  notion  that  Luca 
Penni  executed  those  three  singular  pictures,  the 
Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold,  the  Battle  of  the  Spurs, 
and  the  Embarkation  of  Henry  VIII.,  appears  to  be 
quite  unfounded. 

Giulio  Pippi,  surnamed,  from  the  place  of  his 
birth,  II  Romano,  and  generally  styled  Giulio 
Romano,  was  also  much  beloved  by  Raphael,  and 
of  all  his  scholars  the  most  distinguished  for  origi- 
nal power.  While  under  the  influence  of  Raphael's 
mind,  he  imitated  his  manner  and  copied  his  pic- 
tures so  successfully,  that  it  is  sometimes  difficult 
for  the  best  judges  to  distinguish  the  difference  of 
hand.  The  Julius  II.  in  our  National  Gallery  is 
an  instance.  After  Raphael's  death,  he  abandoned 
himself  to  his  own  luxuriant  genius.  He  lost  the 
simplicity,  the  grace,  the  chaste  and  elevated  feel- 
ing, which  had  characterized  his  master.  He  be- 
came strongly  imbued  with  the  then  reigning  taste 
for  classical  and  mythological  subjects,  which  he 
treated  not  exactly  in  a  classical  spirit,  but  with 
great  boldness  and  fire,  both  in  conception  and  exe 


SCHOLARS  OF  RAPHAEL. 


283 


cution.  He  did  not  excel  in  religious  subjects.  If 
he  had  to  paint  the  Virgin,  he  gave  her  the  air  and 
form  of  a  commanding  Juno  ;  if  a  Saviour,  he  was 
like  a  Roman  emperor  ;  the  apostles  in  his  pictures 
are  like  heathen  philosophers  :  but  when  he  had  to 
deal  with  gods  and  Titans,  he  was  in  his  element. 

For  four  years  after  the  death  of  Raphael  he  was 
chiefly  occupied  in  completing  his  master's  un* 
finished  works  ;  at  the  end  of  that  time  he  went  to 
Mantua  and  entered  the  service  of  the  Duke  Gon- 
zaga,  as  painter  and  architect.  He  designed  for 
him  a  splendid  palace  called  the  Palazzo  del  Te, 
which  he  decorated  with  frescoes  in  a  grand  but 
coarse  style.  In  one  saloon  he  represented  Jupiter 
vanquishing  the  giants  ;  in  another,  the  history  of 
Psyche.  Everywhere  we  see  great  luxuriance  of 
fancy,  wonderful  power  of  drawing,  and  a  bold, 
large  style  of  treatment ;  but  great  coarseness  of 
imagination,  red,  heavy  coloring,  and  a  pagan 
rather  than  a  classical  taste. 

In  character,  Giulio  Romano  was  a  man  of  gen- 
erous mind  ;  princely  in  his  style  of  living  ;  an  ac- 
complished courtier,  yet  commanding  respect  by  a 
lofty  sense  of  his  own  dignity  as  an  artist.  Ho 
amassed  great  riches  in  the  service  of  the  Duke 
Gonzaga,  and  spent  his  life  at  Mantua.  His  most 
important  works  are  to  be  found  in  the  palaces  and 
churches  of  that  city. 

When  Charles  I.  purchased  the  entire  collection 
of  the  Dukes  of  Mantua,  in  1629,  there  were  among 


284  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


them  many  pictures  by  Giulio  Komano.  One  of 
these  was  the  admirable  copy  of  Raphael's  fresco 
of  the  battle  between  Constantine  and  Maxentius. 
now  in  the  guard-room  at  Hampton  Court.  In  the 
same  gallery  are  seven  others,  all  mythological,  and 
characteristic  certainly,  but  by  no  means  favorable 
specimens  of  his  genius ;  they  have  besides  been 
coarsely  painted  over  by  some  restorer,  so  as  to 
retain  no  trace  of  the  original  workmanship.  The 
most  important  picture  which  came  into  the  pos- 
session of  King  Charles  was  a  Nativity,  a  large 
altar-piece,  which,  after  the  king's  death,  was  sold 
into  France.  It  is  now  in  the  Louvre  (1075).  A 
very  pretty  little  picture  is  the  Venus  persuading 
Vulcan  to  forge  the  arrows  of  Cupid  ;  also  in  the 
Louvre  (1077).  Engravings  after  Giulio  Romano 
are  very  commonly  met  with. 

Giulio  Romano  was  invited  by  Francis  I.  to 
undertake  the  decoration  of  his  palace  at  Fontaine- 
bleau  ;  but,  not  being  able  to  leave  Mantua,  he  sent 
his  pupil  Primaticcio,  who  covered  the  walls  with 
frescoes  and  arabesques,  much  in  the  manner  of 
those  in  the  Palazzo  del  Te ;  that  is  to  say,  with 
gods  and  goddesses,  fauns,  satyrs,  nymphs,  Cupids, 
Cyclops,  Titans,  in  a  style  as  remote  from  that  of 
Raphael  as  can  well  be  imagined,  and  yet  not  des- 
titute of  a  certain  grandeur. 

Primaticcio,  Nicolo  del  Abate,  Rosso,  and 
others  who  worked  with  them,  are  designated  in 


SCHOLARS  OF  RAPHAEL. 


285 


the  history  of  art  as  the  "  Fontainebleau  School," 
of  which  Primaticcio  is  considered  the  chief.* 

Giovanni  da  Udine,  who  excelled  in  painting 
animals,  flowers,  and  still  life,  was  Raphael's  chief 
assistant  in  the  famous  arabesques  of  the  Vatican. 

Perino  del  Vaga,  another  of  Raphael's  scholars, 
carried  his  style  to  Genoa,  where  he  was  chiefly  em 
ployed ;  and  Andrea  di  Salerno,  a  far  more 
charming  painter,  who  was  at  Rome  but  a  short 
time,  has  left  many  pictures  at  Naples,  nearer  to 
Raphael  in  point  of  feeling  than  those  of  other 
scholars  who  had  studied  under  his  eye  for  years. 
Andrea  seems  also  to  have  been  allied  to  his  master 
in  mind  and  character,  for  Raphael  parted  from 
him  with  deep  regret. 

Polidoro  Caldara,  called  from  the  place  of  his 
birth  Polidoro  da  Caravaggio,  was  a  poor  boy  who 
had  been  employed  by  the  fresco  painters  in  the 
Vatican  to  carry  the  wet  mortar,  and  afterwards  to 
grind  their  colors.  He  learned  to  admire,  then  to 
emulate  what  he  saw,  and  Raphael  encouraged  and 
aided  him  by  his  instructions.  The  bent  of  Poli- 
doro's  genius,  as  it  developed  itself,  was  a  curious 
and  interesting  compound  of  his  two  vocations.  Ho 
had  been  a  mason,  or  what  we  should  call  a  brick- 
layer's boy,  for  the  first  twenty  years  of  his  life. 
From  building  houses  he  took  to  decorating  them, 

*  The  frescoes  executed  by  these  painters  in  the  palace  of  Fon- 
tainebleau have  lately  been  restored,  with  admirable  success,  by 
M.  Alaux,  a  French  painter  of  eminence. 


286  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


and  from  an  early  familiarity  with  the  remains  of 
antiquity  lying  around  him,  the  mind  of  the  un- 
educated mechanic  became  unconsciously  imbued 
with  the  very  spirit  of  antiquity  ;  not  one  of 
Raphael's  scholars  was  so  distinguished  for  a  clas- 
sical purity  of  taste  as  Polidoro.  He  painted 
chiefly  in  chiaro'scuro  (that  is,  in  two  colors,  light 
and  shade)  friezes,  composed  of  processions  of 
figures,  such  as  we  see  in  the  ancient  bas-reliefs,  sea 
and  river  gods,  tritons,  bacchantes,  fauns,  satyrs, 
Cupids.  At  Hampton  Court  there  are  six  pieces 
of  a  small  narrow  frieze,  representing  boys  and  ani- 
mals, which  apparently  formed  the  top  of  a  bed- 
stead or  some  other  piece  of  furniture ;  these  will 
give  some  faint  idea  of  the  decorative  style  of  Poli- 
doro. This  painter  was  much  employed  at  Naples, 
and  afterwards  at  Messina,  where  he  was  assassi- 
nated by  one  of  his  servants  for  the  sake  of  hi^ 
money. 

Pellegrino  da  Modena,  an  excellent  painter, 
and  one  of  Kaphael's  most  valuable  assistants  in 
his  Scriptural  subjects,  carried  the  "  Roman 
School  "  to  Modena. 

At  this  time  there  was  in  Ferrara  a  school  of 
painters  very  peculiar  in  style,  distinguished  chiefly 
by  extreme  elegance  of  execution,  a  miniature-liko 
neatness  in  the  details,  and  deep,  vigorous,  con- 
trasted colors  —  as  intense  crimson,  viv'd  green, 
brilliant  white,  approximated  ;  — a  little  grotesque 


SCHOLARS  OF  RAPHAEL.  287 


in  point  of  taste,  and  rather  like  the  very  early 
German  school  in  feeling  and  treatment,  but  with 
more  grace  and  ideality.  There  is  a  picture  in  our 
National  Gallery  by  Mazzolino  da  Ferrara  (No. 
82) ,  which  will  give  a  very  good  idea  of  this  style, 
both  in  its  beauties  and  its  singularities. 

One  of  these  Ferrarese  painters,  Benvenuto  Ga- 
rcfalo,  studied  for  some  time  at  Rome  in  the 
school  of  Raphael,  but  it  does  not  appear  that  he 
assisted,  like  most  of  the  other  students,  in  any  of 
his  works.  He  was  older  than  Raphael,  and  already 
advanced  in  his  art  before  he  went  to  Rome ;  but 
while  there  he  knew  how  to  profit  by  the  higher 
principles  which  were  laid  down,  and  studied  as- 
siduously ;  with  a  larger,  freer  style  of  drawing, 
and  a  certain  elevation  in  the  expression  of  his 
heads  acquired  in  the  school  of  Raphael,  he  com- 
bined the  glowing  color  which  characterized  the 
first  painters  of  his  native  city.  There  is  a  small 
picture  by  Garofalo  in  our  National  Gallery  (No. 
81),  which  is  a  very  fair  example  of  his  style.  The 
subject  is  a  Vision  of  St.  Augustine,  rendered  still 
more  poetical  by  the  introduction  of  the  Virgin  and 
Child  above,  and  the  figure  of  St.  Catherine,  who 
stands  behind  the  saint.  Garofalo's  small  pictures 
are  not  uncommon ;  his  large  pictures  are  chiefly 
confined  to  Ferrara  and  the  churches  around  it. 

Tibaldi  of  Bologna,  Innocenza  da  Imola,  and 
Timoteo  della  Vite,  were  also  paint  ere  of  the 


288 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


Roman  school,  whose  works  are  very  seldom  met 
with  in  England. 

Another  painter,  who  must  not  be  omitted,  was 
Giulio  Clovio.  He  was  originally  a  monk,  and 
began  by  imitating  the  miniatures  in  the  illumi- 
nated missals  and  psalm-books  used  in  the  church. 
He  then  studied  at  Rome,  and  was  particularly  in- 
debted to  Michael  Angelo  and  Giulio  Romano.  His 
works  are  a  proof  that  greatness  and  correctness  of 
style  do  not  depend  on  size  and  space ;  for  into  a 
few  inches  square,  into  the  arabesque  ornaments 
round  a  page  of  manuscript,  he  could  throw  a  feel- 
ing of  the  sublime  and  beautiful  worthy  of  the 
great  masters  of  art.  The  vigor  and  precision  of 
his  drawing  in  the  most  diminutive  figures,  the  im- 
aginative beauty  of  some  of  his  tiny  compositions 
(for  Giulio  was  no  copyist) ,  is  almost  inconceiv- 
able. His  works  were  enormously  paid,  and  exe- 
cuted only  for  sovereign  princes  and  rich  prelates. 
Fifteen  years  of  his  life  were  spent  in  the  service  of 
Pope  Paul  III.  (1534-1549),  for  whom  his  finest 
productions  were  executed.  He  died  in  1578,  afc 
the  age  of  eighty. 

Besides  the  Italians,  many  painters  came  from 
beyond  the  Alps  to  place  themselves  under  the 
tuition  of  Raphael ;  among  these  were  Bernard  von 
Orlay  from  Brussels,  Michael  Coxcis  from  Mechlin, 
and  George  Penz  from  Nuremberg.  But  the  influ- 
ence of  Raphael's  mind  and  style  is  not  very  ap- 
parent in  any  of  these  painters,  of  whom  we  shall 


SCHOLARS  OF  RAPHAEL. 


289 


hi  we  more  to  say  hereafter.  By  George  Penz,  there 
is  a  beautiful  portrait  of  Erasmus  in  the  Royal 
Gallery  at  Windsor. 

Pedro  Camp  ana,  who  was  a  great  favorite  of 
Charles  V.,  carried  the  principles  of  the  Roman 
school  into  Spain. 

On  the  whole,  we  may  say  that  while  Michael 
Angelo  and  Raphael  displayed  in  all  they  did  the 
inspiration  of  genius,  their  scholars  and  imitators 
inundated  all  Italy  with  mediocrity  : 

"  Art  with  hollow  forms  was  fed, 
But  the  soul  of  art  lay  dead.19 
19 


(JORREGGIO  AND  GIORGIONE,  AND  TIIED 
SCHOLARS. 


While  the  great  painters  of  the  Florentine 
eehool,  with  Michael  Angelo  at  their  head,  were 
carrying  out  the  principle  of  form,  and  those  of 
Rome  —  the  followers  and  imitators  of  Raphael  — 
were  carrying  out  the  principle  of  expression ;  — 
and  the  first  school  deviating  into  exaggeration,  and 
the  latter  degenerating  into  mannerism,  —  there 
arose  in  the  north  of  Italy  two  extraordinary  and 
original  men,  who,  guided  by  their  own  individual 
genius  and  temperament,  took  up  different  prin- 
ciples, and  worked  them  out  to  perfection.  One 
revelling  in  the  illusions  of  chiaroscuro,  so  that  to 
him  all  nature  appeared  clothed  in  a  soft  transparent 
veil  of  lights  and  shadows  ;  the  other  delighting  in 
the  luxurious  depth  of  tints,  and  beholding  all 
nature  steeped  in  the  glow  of  an  Italian  sunset. 
They  chose  each  their  world,  and  "  drew  after  them 
a  third  part  of  heaven." 

Of  the  two,  Giorgione  appears  to  have  been  the 
most  original,  —  the  most  of  a  creator  and  inventor. 
Correggio  may  possibly  have  owed  his  conception 
of  melting,  vanishing   out         and  transparent 

(290) 


CORREGGIO  iND  GIORGIONE.  291 


shadows,  and  his  peculiar  feeling  of  grace,  to  Lion* 
ardo  da  Vinci,  whose  pictures  were  scattered  over 
the  whole  of  the  north  of  Italy.  Giorgione  found 
in  his  own  fervid,  melancholy  character  the  mystery 
of  his  coloring,  — warm,  glowing,  yot  subdued, — 
and  the  noble  yet  tender  sentiment  of  his  heads  : 
characteristics  which,  transmitted  to  Titian,  be- 
came in  coloring  more  sunshiny  and  brilliant, 
without  losing  depth  and  harmony ;  and  in  ex 
pression  more  cheerful,  still  retaining  intellect  aad 
dignity. 

We  will  first  speak  of  Correggio,  so  styled  ff^m 
his  birthplace,  a  small  town  not  far  from  Modena, 
now  called  Reggio.  His  real  name  was  Antonio 
Allegri,  and  he  was  born  towards  the  end  of  the 
year  1493.  Raphael  was  at  this  time  ten  years 
old,  Michael  Angelo  twenty,  and  Lionardo  da 
Vinci  in  his  fortieth  year.  The  father  of  Antonio 
was  Pellegrino  Allegri,  a  tradesman  possessed  of 
moderate  property  in  houses  and  land.  He  gave 
his  son  a  careful  education,  and  had  him  instructed 
in  literature  and  rhetoric,  as  well  as  in  the  rudi- 
ments of  art,  which  he  imbibed  at  a  very  early  ago 
from  an  uncle,  Lorenzo  Allegri,  a  painter  of  little 
merit.  Afterwards  he  studied  for  a  short  time 
under  Andrea  Mantegna  ;  and  although,  when  this 
painter  died,  in  1506,  Antonio  was  but  thirteen,  he 
had  so  far  profited  by  his  instructions  and  those  of 
Francesco  Mantegna,  who  continued  his  father's 
school,  that  he  drew  well  and  caught  that  taste 


292  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


and  skill  in  foreshortening  which  distinguished  hia 
later  works.  It  was  an  art  which  Mantegna  may 
almost  be  said  to  have  invented,  and  which  was  first 
taught  in  his  academy  ;  but  the  dry,  hard,  precise, 
meagre  style  of  the  Mantegna  school,  Correggio  soon 
abandoned  for  a  manner  entirely  his  own,  in  which 
movement,  variety,  and,  above  all,  the  most  delicate 
gradation  of  light  and  shadow,  are  the  principal 
elements.  All  these  qualities  are  apparent  in  the 
earliest  of  his  authenticated  pictures,  painted  in 
1512,  when  he  was  about  eighteen.  It  is  one  of  the 
large  altar-pieces  in  the  Dresden  Gallery,  called  the 
Madonna  di  San  Francesco,  because  St.  Francis  is 
one  of  the  principal  figures.  The  influence  of  the 
taste  and  manner  of  Lionardo  da  Vinci  is  very  con- 
spicuous in  this  picture. 

In  1519,  having  acquired  some  reputation  and 
fortune  in  his  profession,  Correggio  married  Giro- 
lama  Merlini ;  and  in  the  following  year,  being 
then  six-and- twenty,  he  was  commissioned  to  paint 
in  fresco  the  cupola  of  the  church  of  San  Giovanni 
at  Parma.  He  chose  for  his  subject  the  Ascension 
of  Christ,  who  in  the  centre  appears  soaring  up- 
wards into  heaven,  surrounded  by  the  Twelve  Apos- 
tles, seated  around  on  clouds,  and  who  appear  to  be 
watching  his  progress  to  the  realms  above  ;  below 
Are  the  four  Evangelists  in  the  four  arches,  with 
the  four  Fathers  of  the  Church.  The  figures  in  the 
upper  part  are  of  course  colossal,  and  foreshortened 
with  admirable  skill,  so  as  to  produce  a  wonderful 


CORREGGIO. 


293 


effect  when  viewed  from  below.  In  the  apsis  of  the 
same  church,  over  the  high  altar,  he  painted  the 
Coronation  of  the  Virgin  ;  but  this  was  destroyed 
when  the  church  was  subsequently  enlarged,  ctnd 
is  now  only  known  through  engravings  and  the 
copies  made  by  Annibal  Carracci,  which  are  pre- 
served at  Naples.  For  this  work  Correggio  received 
five  hundred  gold  crowns,  equal  to  about  fifteen 
hundred  pounds  at  the  present  day. 

About  the  year  1525,  Correggio  was  invited  to 
Mantua,  where  he  painted  for  the  reigning  Duke, 
Federigo  Gonzaga,  the  Education  of  Cupid,  which 
is  now  in  our  National  Gallery.  For  the  same 
accomplished  but  profligate  prince  he  painted  the 
other  mythological  stories  of  Io,  Leda,  Danae,  and 
Antiope.# 

Passing  over,  for  the  present,  a  variety  of  works 
which  Correggio  painted  in  the  next  four  or  five 
years,  we  shall  only  observe  that  the  cupola  of  San 
Giovanni  gave  so  much  satisfaction,  that  he  was 
called  upon  to  decorate  in  the  same  manner  the 
cathedral  of  Parma,  which  is  dedicated  to  the  Vir- 
gin Mary.  In  the  centre  of  the  dome  he  represented 
the  Assumption  —  the  Madonna  soaring  into  hoaven, 
while  Christ  descends  from  his  throne  in  bliss  to 
meet  her.  An  innumerable  host  of  saints  and  an- 
gels, rejoicing  and  singing  hymns  of  triumph,  sur- 

*  The  Io  and  the  Leda  are  in  the  Berlin  Gallery  ;  the  Danae,  in 
the  Borghese  Gallery  j  and  the  Antiope,  in  the  Louvre.  The  lattef 
once  belonged  to  King  Charles. 


*94  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


round  these  principal  personages.  Lower  down  in 
a  circle  stand  the  Apostles,  and,  lower  still,  Genii 
bearing  candelabra  and  swinging  censers.  In  lu- 
nettes below  are  the  four  Evangelists,  the  figure  of 
St.  John  being  one  of  the  finest.  The  whole  com- 
position is  full  of  glorious  life  ;  wonderful  for  the 
relief,  the  bold  anci  per  fact  foreshortening,  the  man- 
agement of  the  chiajro'scuro  ;  but,  from  the  Enu- 
merable figures,  and  ths  play  of  the  limbs  seen  from 
below,  —  legs  and  arms  beiug  raore  conspicuous  than 
bodies,  —  the  great  artist  was  reproached  in  his  life- 
time with  having  painted  "  ul:  gukzzetto  di  rane  " 
(a  fricassee  of  frogs).*  Therv.  aye  several  engrav- 
ings of  this  magnificent  work  ;  but  tfioso  who  would 
form  a  just  idea  of  Correggio's  sublime  conception 
and  power  of  drawing  should  see  some  of  the  car- 
toons prepared  for  the  frescoes  and  dr^wn  in  chalk 
by  Correggio's  own  hand.  A  few  of  these,  repre- 
senting chiefly  angels  and  cherubim ,  were  discov- 
ered a  few  years  ago  at  Parma,  rolled  up  Li  a  gar- 
ret. They  were  conveyed  to  Rome,  thence  brought 
to  England  by  Dr.  Braun,  and  are  now  in  the 
British  Museum,  having  been  lately  purchased  by 
the  trustees.  These  heads  and  forms  are  gigantic, 
nearly  twice  the  size  of  life  ;  yet  such  is  the  excel- 
lence of  the  drawing,  and  the  perfect  grace  and 
sweetness  of  the  expression,  that  they  strike  the 
fancy  as  sublimely  beautiful,  without  giving  the 

*  In  cookery  only  the  hind-legs  of  the  frogs  are  used  f  the  bodies 
jure  thrown  away. 


CORREGGIO. 


295 


slightest  impression  of  exaggeration  or  effort.  Our 
artists  who  are  preparing  cartoons  for  works  on  a 
large  scale  could  have  no  finer  studies  than  these 
grand  fragments,  emanations  of  the  mind  and  crea- 
tions of  the  hand  of  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
masters  in  art.  They  show  his  manner  of  setting 
to  work,  and  are  in  this  respect  an  invaluable  les- 
son to  young  painters. 

Correggio  finished  the  dome  of  the  cathedral  of 
Parma  in  1530,  and  returned  to  his  native  town, 
where  he  resided  for  the  remainder  of  his  life.  We 
find  that  in  the  year  1533  he  was  one  of  the  wit- 
nesses to  a  marriage  which  was  celebrated  in  the 
castle  of  Correggio,  between  Ippolito,  Lord  of  Cor- 
reggio,  and  son  of  Veronica  Gambara,  the  illustri 
ous  poetess  (widow  of  Ghiberto  da  Correggio) ,  and 
Chiara  da  Correggio,  his  cousin.  Correggio 's  pres- 
ence on  this  occasion,  and  his  signature  to  the  mar- 
riage-deed, proved  the  estimation  in  which  he  was 
held  by  his  sovereigns.  In  the  following  year  he 
had  engaged  to  paint  for  Alberto  Panciroli  an  altar- 
piece  ;  the  subject  fixed  upon  is  not  known,  but  it 
is  certainly  known  that  he  received  in  advance,  and 
before  his  work  was  commenced,  twenty-five  gold 
crowns.  It  was  destined  never  to  be  begun,  for 
soon  after  signing  this  agreement  Correggio  was 
seized  with  a  malignant  fever,  of  which  he  died, 
after  a  few  days'  illness,  March  5,  1534,  in  the 
forty-first  year  of  his  age.  He  was  buried  in  his 
family  sepulchre  in  the  Franciscan  convent  at 


296  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS, 


Correggio,  and  a  few  words  placed  over  his  tomb 
merely  record  the  day  of  his  death,  and  his  name 
and  profession  —  "  Maestro  Antonio  Allegri,  de- 

PINTORE. ' ' 

There  is  a  tradition  that  Correggio  was  a  self- 
educated  painter,  unassisted  except  by  his  own 
transcendent  genius  ;  that  he  lived  in  great  obscur- 
ity and  indigence,  and  that  he  was  ill  remunerated 
for  his  works.  And  it  is  further  related,  that  hav- 
ing been  paid  in  copper  coin  a  sum  of  sixty  crowns 
for  one  of  his  pictures,  he  carried  home  this  load 
in  a  sack  on  his  shoulders,  being  anxious  to  relieve 
the  wants  of  his  family ;  and  stopping,  when  heated 
and  wearied,  to  refresh  himself  with  a  draught  of 
cold  water,  he  was  seized  with  a  fever,  of  which  he 
died.  Though  this  tradition  has  been,  proved  to  be 
false,  and  is  completely  refuted  by  the  circum- 
stances of  the  last  years  of  his  life  related  above, 
yet  the  impression  that  Correggio  died  miserably 
and  in  indigence  prevailed  to  a  late  period.*  From 
whatever  cause  it  arose,  it  was  early  current.  An- 
nibal  Carracci,  writing  from  Parma  fifty  years  after 
the  death  of  Correggio,  says,  "  I  rage  and  weep  to 
think  of  the  fate  of  this  poor  Antonio  ;  so  great  a 
man  —  if,  indeed,  he  were  not  rather  an  angel  in 
the  flesh  —  to  be  lost  here,  to  live  unknown,  and  to 
die  unhappily  !  "    Now,  he  who  painted  the  dome 

*  The  death  of  Correggio  is  the  subject  of  a  very  beautiful  tragedy 
by  (Ehlenschlager,  of  which  there  is  a  critical  account,  with  transla- 
tions, in  one  of  the  early  volumes  of  Blackwood' 's  Magazine. 


CORREGGIO. 


297 


of  the  Cathedral  of  Parma,  and  who  stood  by  as 
one  of  the  chosen  witnesses  of  the  marriage  of  his 
sovereign,  could  not  have  lived  unknown  and  unre- 
garded ;  and  we  have  no  just  reason  to  suppose  that 
this  gentle,  amiable,  and  unambitious  man  died 
unhappily.  With  regard  to  his  deficient  education, 
it  appears  certain  that  he  studied  anatomy  under 
Lombardi,  a  famous  physician  of  that  time  ;  and  his 
works  exhibit  not  only  a  classical  and  cultivated 
tate,  but  a  knowledge  of  the  sciences  —  of  optics, 
mathematics,  perspective,  and  chemistry — as  far  as 
they  were  then  carried.  His  use  and  skilful  pre- 
paration of  rare  and  expensive  colors  imply  neither 
poverty  nor  ignorance.  His  modest,  quiet,  amiable 
temper  and  domestic  habits  may  have  given  rise  to 
the  report  that  he  lived  neglected  and  obscure  in  his 
native  city  ;  he  had  not,  like  other  great  masters 
of  his  time,  an  academy  for  teaching,  and  a  reti- 
nue of  scholars  to  spread  his  name  and  contend  for 
the  supremacy  of  their  master.  Whether  Correggio 
ever  visited  Rome  is  a  point  undecided  by  any  evi- 
dence for  or  against,  and  it  is  most  probable  that 
he  did  not.  It  is  said  that  he  was  at  Bologna, 
where  he  saw  Raphael's  St.  Cecilia,  and,  after 
contemplating  it  for  some  time  with  admiration, 
he  turned  away,  exclaiming,  "  And  I  too  am  a 
painter  (anch'i'o  sono  pittore)  !  "  —  an  anecdote 
which  shows  that,  if  unambitious  and  unpresum- 
ing,  he  was  not  without  a  consciousness  of  his  own 
merit. 


298  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


The  father  of  Correggio,  Pellegrino  Allegri,  who 
survived  him,  repaid  the  twenty-five  gold  crowns 
which  his  son  had  received  in  advance  for  work  he 
did  not  live  to  complete.  The  only  son  of  Correg- 
gio, Pomponio  Quirino  Allegri,  became  a  painter, 
but  never  attained  to  any  great  reputation,  and 
appears  to  have  been  of  a  careless,  restless  dispo- 
sition. 

We  shall  now  give  some  account  of  Correggio's 
works.  His  two  greatest  performances,  the  dome 
of  the  San  Giovanni  and  that  of  the  Cathedral  of 
Parma,  have  been  mentioned.  His  smaller  pic- 
tures, though  not  numerous,  are  diffused  through 
bo  many  galleries,  that  they  cannot  be  said  to  be 
rare.  It  is  remarkable  that  they  are  very  seldom 
met  with  in  the  possession  of  individuals,  but,  with 
few  exceptions,  are  to  be  found  in  royal  and  public 
collections. 

In  our  National  Gallery  are  five  pictures  by  Cor- 
reggio. Two  are  studies  of  angels'  heads,  which, 
as  they  are  not  found  in  any  of  the  existing  fres- 
coes, are  supposed  to  have  formed  part  of  the  com- 
position in  the  San  Giovanni,  which,  as  already  re- 
lated, was  destroyed.  The  other  three  are  among 
his  most  celebrated  works.  The  first,  Mercury  teach- 
ing Cupid  to  read  in  the  presence  of  Venus,  is  an 
epitome  of  all  the  qualities  which  characterize  thp 
oil-painter  ;  that  peculiar  smiling  grace  which  is 
the  expression  of  a  kind  of  Elysian  happiness,  and 
that  flowing  outline,  that  melting  softness  of  tone, 


CORREGGIO. 


299 


wnich  are  quite  illusive.  "  Those  who  may  not 
perfectly  understand  what  artists  and  critics  mean 
when  they  dwell  with  rapture  on  Correggio's  won- 
derful chiaroscuro,  should  look  well  into  this  pic* 
ture.  They  will  perceive  that  in  the  painting  of 
the  limbs  they  can  look  through  the  shadows  into 
the  substance,  as  it  might  be  into  the  flesh  ^nd 
blood ;  the  shadows  seem  mutable,  accidental,  and 
aerial,  as  if  between  the  eye  and  the  colors,  and  not 
incorporated  with  them.  In  this  lies  the  inimitable 
excellence  of  Correggio."  # 

This  picture  was  painted  for  Federigo  Gonzaga, 
Duke  of  Mantua.  It  was  brought  to  England  in 
1629,  when  the  Mantua  Gallery  was  bought  by 
our  Charles  I.,  and  hung  in  his  apartment  at 
Whitehall  ;  afterwards  it  passed  into  the  posses- 
sion of  the  Duke  of  Alva  ;  then,  during  the  French 
invasion  of  Spain,  Murat  secured  it  as  his  share  of 
the  plunder  ;  and  his  widow  sold  it  to  the  Marquess 
of  Londonderry,  from  whom  it  was  purchased  by 
the  nation.  The  Ecce  Homo  was  purchased  at  the 
same  time.  It  is  chiefly  remarkable  for  the  fine 
head  of  the  Virgin,  who  faints  with  anguish  on 
beholding  the  suffering  and  degradation  of  her 
Son  ;  the  dying  away  of  sense  and  sensation  under 
the  influence  of  mental  pain  is  expressed  with  ad- 
mirable and  affecting  truth.  The  rest  of  the  pic- 
ture is  perhaps  rather  feeble,  and  the  head  of 

*  "  Public  Galleries  of  Art,"  Murray,  1841,  in  which  there  is  a 
history  of  the  picture,  too  long  to  be  inserted  here. 


300  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


Christ  not  to  be  compared  to  one  crowned  witK 
thorns  which  is  in  the  possession  of  Lord  Cowper, 
nor  with  another  in  the  Bridgewater  collection. 
The  third  picture  is  a  small  but  most  exquisite 
Madonna,  known  as  the  Vierge  au  Panier,  from 
the  little  basket  in  front  of  the  picture.  The  Vir- 
gin, seated,  holds  the  infant  Christ  on  her  knee,  and 
looks  down  upon  him  with  the  fondest  expression 
of  maternal  rapture,  while  he  gazes  up  in  her  face. 
Joseph  is  seen  in  the  background.  This,  though 
called  a  Holy  Family,  is  a  simple  domestic  scene  ; 
and  Correggio  probably  in  this,  as  in  other  in- 
stances, made  the  original  study  from  his  wife  and 
child.  Another  picture  in  our  gallery  ascribed  to 
Correggio,  the  Christ  on  the  Mount  of  Olives,  is 
a  very  fine  old  copy,  perhaps  a  duplicate,  of  an 
original  picture  now  in  the  possession  of  the  Duke 
of  Wellington. 

In  the  gallery  of  Parma  are  five  of  the  most  im- 
portant and  beautiful  pictures  of  Correggio.  The 
most  celebrated  is  that  called  the  St.  Jerome.  It 
represents  the  saint  presenting  to  the  Virgin  and 
Child  his  translation  of  the  Scriptures,  while  on  the 
other  side  the  Magdalen  bends  down  and  kisses  with 
devotion  the  feet  of  the  infant  Saviour. 

The  Dresden  Gallery  is  also  rich  in  pictures  ot 
Correggio.  It  contains  six  pictures,  of  which  four 
are  large  altar-pieces,  bought  out  of  churches  in 
Modena.  Among  these  is  the  famous  picture  of  the 
Nativity,  called  the  Notte,  or  Night,  of  Correggio, 


CORREGGIO. 


301 


because  it  is  illuminated  only  by  the  unearthly 
eplendor  which  beams  round  the  head  of  the  in- 
fant Saviour  ;  and  the  still  more  famous  Magdalen, 
who  lies  extended  on  the  ground  intently  reading 
the  Scriptures.  No  picture  in  the  world  has  been 
more  universally  admired  and  multiplied,  through 
copies  and  engravings,  than  this  little  picture. 

In  the  Florence  Gallery  are  three  pictures.  One 
of  these  is  the  Madonna  on  her  knees,  adoring  with 
ecstasy  her  Infant,  who  lies  before  her  on  a  portion 
of  her  garment. 

In  the  Louvre  are  two  of  his  works —  the  Marriage 
of  St.  Catherine,  and  the  Antiope,  painted  for  the 
Duke  of  Mantua. 

In  the  Naples  Gallery  there  are  three ;  one  of  them 
a  most  lovely  Madonna,  called,  from  the  peculiar 
head-dress,  the  Zingarella,  or  Gypsy. 

In  the  Vienna  Gallery  are  two ;  and  at  Berlin 
three  —  among  them  the  Io  and  the  Leda. 

There  is  in  the  British  Museum  a  complete  collec- 
tion of  engravings  after  Correggio. 

Correggio  had  no  school  of  painting,  and  all  his 
authentic  works,  except  his  frescoes,  were  executed 
solely  by  his  own  hand.  In  the  execution  of  his  fres- 
coes he  had  assistants,  but  they  could  hardly  bo 
called  his  pupils.  He  had,  however,  a  host  of  imi- 
tators, who  formed  what  has  been  called  the  School 
of  Parma,  of  which  he  is  considered  the  head.  The 
most  famous  of  these  imitators  was  Francesco  Maz* 
eola,  of  whom  we  are  now  to  speak. 


302 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


PARMIGIANO. 

Born  1503,  died  1540. 

Francesco  Mazzola,  or  Mazzuoli,  called  Parmi- 
giano,  and,  by  the  Italians,  II  Parmigianino  (to 
express  by  this  endearing  diminutive  the  love  aa 
well  as  the  admiration  he  inspired  even  from  his 
boyhood),  was  a  native  of  Parma,  born  on  the  11th 
of  January,  1503.  He  had  two  uncles  who  were 
painters,  and  by  them  he  was  early  initiated  into 
some  knowledge  of  designing,  though  he  could  have 
owed  little  else  to  them,  both  being  very  mediocre 
artists.  Endowed  with  a  most  precocious  genius, 
ardent  in  every  pursuit,  he  studied  indefatigably, 
and  at  the  age  of  fourteen  he  produced  a  picture  of 
the  Baptism  of  Christ,  wonderful  for  a  boy  of  his 
age,  exhibiting  even  thus  early  much  of  that  easy 
grace  which  he  is  supposed  to  have  learned  from 
Correggio  ;  but  Correggio  had  not  then  visited 
Parma.  When  he  arrived  there,  four  years  after- 
wards, for  the  purpose  of  painting  the  cupola  of 
San  Giovanni,  Francesco,  then  only  eighteen,  was 
selected  as  one  of  his  assistants,  and  he  took  this 
opportunity  of  imbuing  his  mind  with  a  style  which 
certainly  had  much  analogy  with  his  own  taste  and 
character.  Parmigiano,  however,  had  too  much 
genius,  too  much  ambition,  to  follow  in  the  foot- 
steps of  another,  however  great.   Though  not  great 


PARMIGIANO. 


303 


enough  himself  to  be  first  in  that  age  of  greatness, 
yet,  had  his  rivals  and  contemporaries  been  less  than 
giants,  he  must  have  overtopped  them  all.  As  it 
was,  feeling  the  impossibility  of  rising  above  such 
men  as  Michael  Angelo,  Kaphael,  Correggio,  yet 
feeling  also  the  consciousness  of  his  own  power,  he 
endeavored  to  be  original  by  combining  what  has 
not  yet  been  harmonized  in  nature,  therefore  could 
hardly  succeed  in  art  —  the  grand  drawing  of  Mi- 
chael Angelo,  the  antique  grace  of  Raphael,  and 
the  melting  tones  and  sweetness  of  Correggio.  Per- 
haps, had  he  been  satisfied  to  look  at  nature  through 
his  own  soul  and  eyes,  he  would  have  done  better  ; 
had  he  trusted  himself  more,  he  would  have  escaped 
some  of  those  faults  which  have  rendered  many  of 
his  works  unpleasing,  by  giving  the  impression  of 
effort,  and  of  what  in  art  is  called  mannerism.  Am- 
bitious, versatile,  accomplished,  generally  admired 
for  his  hanasome  person  and  graceful  manners,  Par- 
migiano  would  have  been  spoiled  by  vanity,  if  he 
had  not  been  a  man  of  strong  sensibility  and  of 
almost  fastidious  sentiment  and  refinement.  When 
these  are  added  to  genius,  the  result  is  generally  a 
tinge  of  that  melancholy,  of  that  dissatisfaction  with 
all  that  is  achieved  or  acquired,  which  seem  to  have 
entered  largely  into  the  temperament  of  this  painter, 
rendering  his  character  and  life  extremely  interest- 
ing, while  it  strongly  distinguishes  him  from  the 
serenely  mild  and  equal-tempered  Raphael,  to  whom 
he  was  afterwards  compared. 


304 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


When  Parmigiano  was  in  his  twentieth  year,  he 
set  off  for  Rome.  The  recent  accession  of  Clement 
VII.,  a  declared  patron  of  art,  and  the  death  of 
Raphael,  had  opened  a  splendid  vista  of  glory  and 
success  to  his  imagination.  He  carried  with  him 
to  Rome  three  pictures.  One  of  these  was  an  ex- 
ample of  his  graceful  genius.  It  represented  tho 
Infant  Christ  seated  on  his  mother's  knee,  and  tak- 
ing some  fruit  from  the  lap  of  an  angel.  The  second 
was  a  proof  of  his  wonderful  dexterity  of  hand. 
It  was  a  portrait  of  himself  seated  in  his  atelier 
amid  his  books  and  musical  instruments ;  but  the 
whole  scene  represented  on  the  panel  as  if  viewed  in 
a  convex  mirror.  The  third  picture  was  an  in- 
stance of  the  success  with  which  he  had  studied  the 
magical  effects  of  chiaro'scuro  in  Correggio,— 
torchlight,  daylight,  and  a  celestial  light,  being  all 
introduced  without  disturbing  the  harmony  of  the 
coloring.  This  last  he  presented  to  the  pope,  who 
received  both  the  young  painter  and  his  offering 
most  graciously.  He  became  a  favorite  at  Rome, 
and,  as  he  studiously  imitated  while  there  the  works 
of  Raphael,  and  resembled  him  in  the  eleganoe  of 
his  person  and  manners,  and  the  generosity  of  his 
disposition,  the  poets  complimented  him  by  saying, 
or  singing,  that  the  late-lost  and  lamented  Raphael 
had  revived  in  the  likeness  of  Parmigiano.  We 
can  now  measure  more  justly  the  distance  which 
separated  them. 

While  at  Rome,  Francesco  was  greatly  patron- 


PARMIGIANO.  805 

ized  by  the  Cardinal  Ippolito  de  Medici,  and 
painted  for  him  several  beautiful  pi3tures  ;  for  the 
pope  also  several  others,  and  the  portrait  of  a 
young  captain  of  his  guard,  Lorenzo  Cibo,  which 
is  supposed  to  be  the  fine  portrait  now  at  Windsor. 
For  a  noble  lady,  a  certain  Donna  Maria  Buffalini, 
he  painted  a  grand  altar-piece  to  adorn  the  chapel 
of  her  family  at  Citta  di  Castello.  This  is  the  cele- 
brated Vision  of  St.  Jerome,  now  in  our  National  Gal- 
lery. It  represents  the  Virgin  holding  a  book,  with 
the  Infant  Christ  leaning  on  her  knee,  as  seen  above 
in  a  glory,  while  St.  John  the  Baptist  points  to  the 
celestial  vision,  and  St.  Jerome  is  seen  asleep  in  the 
background.  This  picture  is  an  eminent  example 
of  all  the  beauties  and  faults  of  Parmigiano.  The 
Madonna  and  the  Child  are  models  of  dignity  and 
grace ;  the  drawing  is  correct  and  elegant ;  the 
play  of  the  lights  and  shadows  in  delicate  manage- 
ment, worthy  of  Correggio.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
attitude  of  St.  John  the  Baptist  is  an  attempt  at 
singularity  in  drawing,  which  is  altogether  forced 
and  theatrical ;  while  the  foreshortened  figure  of 
St.  Jerome  in  the  background  is  most  uncomfort- 
ably distorted.  Notwithstanding  these  faults,  the 
picture  has  always  been  much  celebrated.  When 
the  church  in  which  it  stood  was  destroyed  by  an 
earthquake,  the  picture  was  purchased  from  among 
the  ruins,  and  afterwards  sold  to  the  Marquis  of 
Abercorn  for  fifteen  hundred  guineas ;  subsequently 
it  passed  through  the  hands  of  two  great  collectors, 
20 


S06  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


Mr.  Hart  Davis  and  Mr.  Watson  Taylor,  and  was 
at  length  purchased  by  the  members  of  the  British 
Institution,  and  by  them  generously  presented  to 
the  nation. 

It  is  related  that  Home  was  taken  by  assault,  and 
pillaged  by  the  barbarous  soldiery  of  the  Constable 
de  Bourbon,  at  the  very  time  that  Parmigiano  was 
painting  on  this  picture  ;  and  that  he  was  so  ab- 
sorbed by  his  work,  that  he  heard  nothing  of  the 
tumult  around  him,  till  some  soldiers,  with  an 
officer  at  their  head,  broke  into  his  atelier.  As  he 
turned  round  in  quiet  surprise  from  his  easel,  thev 
were  so  struck  by  the  beauty  of  his  work,  as  well 
as  by  the  composure  of  the  artist,  that  they  retired 
without  doing  him  any  injury.  But  another  party 
afterwards  seized  him,  insisted  on  ransom,  and 
robbed  him  of  all  he  possessed.  Thus  reduced  to 
poverty,  he  fled  from  Rome,  now  a  scene  of  inde- 
scribable horrors,  and  reached  Bologna  barefoot  and 
penniless. 

But  the  man  of  genius  has  at  least  this  high 
privilege,  that  he  carries  with  him  everywhere  two 
things  of  which  no  earthly  power  can  rob  him  — 
his  talent  and  his  fame.  On  arriving  at  Bologna, 
he  drew  and  etched  some  beautiful  compositions. 
He  is  said  by  some  to  have  himself  invented  the  art 
of  etching,  —  that  is,  of  corroding,  or,  as  it  is  tech- 
nically termed,  biting  the  lines  on  the  copper-plate 
by  means  of  nitrous  acid,  instead  of  cutting  them 
with  the  graver.    By  this  new-found  art  he  was 


PARMIGIANO. 


307 


relieved  from  the  immediate  pressure  of  poverty,  and 
very  soon  found  himself,  as  a  painter,  in  full  em- 
ployment. He  executed  at  Bologna  some  of  his 
most  celebrated  works :  the  Madonna  della  Rosa 
of  the  Dresden  Gallery,  and  the  Madonna  delV  collo 
lungo  (or  long-necked  Madonna)  in  the  Pitti  Palace 
at  Florence  ;  also,  a  famous  altar-piece  called  the 
St.  Margaret.  Of  all  these  there  are  numerous 
engravings. 

After  residing  nearly  four  years  at  Bologna,  Par- 
migiano  returned,  rich  and  celebrated,  to  his  native 
city.  He  reached  Parma  in  1531,  and  was  imme- 
diately engaged  to  paint  in  fresco  a  new  church 
which  had  recently  been  erected  to  the  honor  of 
the  Virgin  Mary,  and  called  the  Steccata.  There 
were,  however,  some  delays  on  the  side  of  his  em- 
ployers, and  more  on  his  own,  and  four  years 
passed  before  he  set  to  work.  Much  indignation 
was  excited  by  his  dilatory  conduct ;  but  it  was 
appeased  by  the  interference  of  his  friend  Francesco 
Boiardo,  who  offered  himself  as  his  surety  for  the 
completion  of  his  undertaking  within  a  given  time. 
A  new  contract  was  signed,  and  Parmigiano  there- 
upon presented  to  his  friend  his  picture  of  Cupid 
framing  his  Bow,  a  lovely  composition,  so  beauti- 
ful that  it  has  been  again  and  again  attributed  to 
Correggio,  and  engraved  under  his  name,  but  it  is 
undoubtedly  by  Parmigiano.  Several  repetitions 
of  it  were  executed  at  the  time,  so  much  did  it  de- 
light all  who  saw  it.    Engravings  and  copies  like* 


308  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


wise  abound ;  a  very  good  copy  is  in  the  Bridge* 
water  Gallery.  The  picture  which  is  regarded  aa 
the  original  is  in  the  gallery  of  the  Belvedere  at 
Vienna. 

At  last  he  began  his  works  in  the  Steccata,  and 
there  he  executed  his  figure  of  Moses  in  act  to 
break  the  Tables  of  the  Law,  and  his  Eve  in  act  to 
pluck  the  forbidden  fruit.  The  former  is  a  proof 
of  the  height  he  could  aspire  to  in  sublime  concep- 
tion ;  we  have  few  examples  in  art  of  equal  grandeur 
of  character  and  drawing.  The  poet  Gray  ac- 
knowledged that,  when  he  pictured  his  Bard, 

"  Loose  his  beard  and  hoary  hair 
Streamed  like  a  meteor  on  the  troubled  air," 

he  had  this  magnificent  figure  full  in  his  mind. 
The  Eve,  on  the  other  hand,  is  a  perfect  example  of 
that  peculiar  grace  in  which  Parmigiano  excelled. 

After  he  had  painted  these  and  a  few  other 
figures  in  the  church,  more  delays  ensued.  It  is 
said  by  some  that  Parmigiano  had  wasted  his  money 
in  gambling  and  dissipation,  and  now  gave  himself 
up  to  the  pursuit  of  the  philosopher's  stone,  with  a 
hope  of  repairing  his  losses.  One  of  his  biographers 
has  taken  pains  to  disprove  these  imputations  ;  but 
that  ho  was  improvident,  restless,  and  fond  of  pleas- 
ure, is  admitted.  Whatever  might  have  been  the 
cause,  he  broke  his  contract,  and  was  thrown  into 
prison.  To  obtain  his  freedom,  he  entered  into  a 
new  engagement,  but  was  no  sooner  at  liberty  than 


PARM1GIAN0 


309 


he  escaped  to  the  territory  of  Cremona.  Here  his 
constitutional  melancholy  seized  him  ;  and  though 
he  lived,  or  rather  languished,  long  enough  to  paint 
some  beautiful  pictures,  he  died  in  a  few  months 
afterwards,  and  was,  at  his  own  request,  laid  in 
the  earth  without  any  coffin  or  covering,  only  a 
cross  of  cypress- wood  was  placed  on  his  breast.  He 
died  just  twenty  years  after  Raphael,  and  at  the 
same  age,  having  only  completed  his  thirty-seventh 
year. 

Parmigiano,  in  his  best  pictures,  is  one  of  the 
most  fascinating  of  painters,  —  dignified,  graceful, 
harmonious.  His  children,  cupids,  and  angels,  are 
in  general  exquisite ;  his  portraits  are  noble,  and 
are  perhaps  his  finest  and  most  faultless  produc- 
tions,—  the  Moses  and  the  Eve  excepted.  It  was 
the  error  of  Parmigiano  that  in  studying  grace  he 
was  apt  to  deviate  into  affectation,  and  become 
what  the  French  call  maniere ;  all  studied  grace  is 
disagreeable.  In  his  female  figures  he  lengthened 
the  limbs,  the  necks,  the  fingers,  till  the  effect  was 
not  grace,  but  a  kind  of  stately  feebleness  ;  and  as 
he  imitated  at  the  same  time  the  grand  drawing 
and  large  manner  of  Michael  Angelo,  the  result 
conveys  an  impression  of  something  quite  incongru- 
ous in  nature  and  in  art.  Then  his  Madonnas 
have  in  general  a  mannered  grandeur  and  elegance, 
something  between  goddesses  and  duchesses;  and 
his  female  saints  are  something  between  nymphs 
and  maids  of  honor.    For  instance,  none  of  his 


310 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


compositions,  not  even  the  Cupid  shaping  his  Bow, 
has  been  more  popular  than  his  Marriage  of  St. 
Catherine,  of  which  there  are  so  many  repetitions  : 
a  famous  one  in  the  collection  of  Lord  Normanton ; 
another,  smaller  and  most  exquisite,  in  the  Gros- 
venor  Gallery, — not  to  speak  of  an  infinitude  of 
copies  and  engravings ;  but  is  not  the  Madonna, 
with  her  long,  slender  neck,  and  her  half-averted 
head,  far  more  aristocratic  than  divine?  and  does 
not  St.  Catherine  hold  out  her  pretty  finger  for  the 
ring  with  the  air  of  a  lady-bride  ?  —  and  most  of 
the  sacred  pictures  of  Parmigiano  are  liable  to  the 
same  censure.  Annibal  Carracci,  in  a  famous  son- 
net, in  which  he  pointed  out  what  was  most  wor- 
thy of  imitation  in  the  elder  painters,  recommends, 
significantly,  "  a  little"  of  the  grace  of  Parmi- 
giano ;  thereby  indicating,  what  we  feel  to  be  the 
truth,  that  he  had  too  much. 


GIORGIONE. 

Born  1478,  died  1511. 

This  painter  was  another  great  inventor —  one  of 
those  who  stamped  his  own  individuality  on  his  art. 
He  was  essentially  a  poet,  and  a  subjective  poet,  who 
fused  his  own  being  with  all  he  performed  and  cre- 
ated. If  Raphael  be  the  Shakspeare,  then  Gior- 
gione  may  be  styled  the  Byron,  of  painting. 

He  was  born  at  Cast  el  Franco,  a  small  town  in 


GIORGIONE. 


311 


the  territory  of  Treviso,  and  his  proper  name  was 
Giorgio  Barbarelli.  Nothing  is  known  of  his 
family  or  of  his  younger  years,  except  that,  having 
shown  a  strong  disposition  to  art,  he  was  brought, 
when  a  boy,  to  Venice,  and  placed  under  the  tui- 
tion of  Gian  Bellini.  As  he  grew  up  he  was  dis- 
tinguished by  his  tall,  noble  figure,  and  the  dignity 
of  his  deportment ;  and  his  companions  called  him 
Giorgione,  or  George  the  Great,  by  which  nick- 
name he  has,  after  the  Italian  fashion,  descended 
to  posterity. 

Giorgione  appears  to  have  been  endowed  by 
nature  with  an  intense  love  of  beauty,  and  a  sense 
of  harmony  which  pervaded  his  whole  being.  He 
was  famous  as  a  player  and  composer  on  the  lute, 
to  which  he  sung  his  own  verses.  In  his  works  two 
characteristics  prevail  —  sentiment  and  color,  both 
tinged  by  the  peculiar  temperament  of  the  man. 
The  sentiment  is  noble,  but  melancholy ;  and  the 
color  decided,  intense,  and  glowing.  His  execu- 
tion had  a  freedom,  a  careless  mastery  of  hand,  or, 
to  borrow  the  untranslatable  Italian  word,  a 
sprezzatura,  unknown  before  his  time.  The  idea 
that  he  founded  his  style  on  that  of  Lionardo  da 
Vinci  cannot  be  entertained  by  those  who  have 
studied  the  works  of  both.  Nothing  can  be  more 
distinct  in  character  and  feeling. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  of  one  so  interesting  in 
his  character  and  his  works  we  know  so  little  ;  yet 
more  to  be  regretted  that  a  being  gifted  with  the 


312 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


passionate  sensibility  of  a  poet  should  have  been 
employed  chiefly  in  decorative  painting,  and  that 
too  confined  to  the  outsides  of  the  Venetian  palaces. 
These  creations  have  been  destroyed  by  fire,  ruined 
by  time,  or  effaced  by  the  damps  of  the  Lagune, 
He  appears  to  have  early  acquired  fame  in  his  art, 
and  we  find  him  in  1504  employed ,  together  with 
Titian,  in  painting  with  frescoes  the  exterior  of  the 
Fondaco  dei  Tedeschi  (the  hall  of  Exchange  belong- 
ing to  the  German  merchants).  That  part  in- 
trusted to  Giorgione  he  covered  with  the  most 
beautiful  and  poetical  figures ;  but  the  significance 
of  the  whole  was  soon  after  the  artist's  death  for- 
gotten, and  Vasari  tells  us  that  in  his  time  no  one 
could  interpret  it.  It  appears  to  have  been  a  sort 
of  arabesque  on  a  colossal  scale. 

Giorgione  delighted  in  fresco  as  a  vehicle,  be- 
cause it  gave  him  ample  scope  for  that  largeness 
and  freedom  of  outline  which  characterized  his 
manner.  Unhappily,  of  his  numerous  works,  only 
the  merest  fragments  remain.  We  have  no  evi- 
dence that  he  exercised  his  art  elsewhere  than  at 
Venice,  or  that  he  ever  resided  out  of  the  Venetian 
territory.  In  his  pictures,  the  heads,  features,  cos- 
tumes, are  all  stamped  with  the  Venetian  charac- 
ter. He  had  no  school,  though,  induced  by  his 
social  and  affectionate  nature,  he  freely  imparted 
what  he  knew,  and  often  worked  in  conjunction 
with  others.  His  love  of  music  and  his  love  of 
pleasure  sometimes  led  him  astray  from  his  art, 


GIORGIONE. 


313 


but  were  oftener  his  inspirers.  Both  are  embodied 
in  his  pictures,  particularly  his  exquisite  pastorals 
and  concerts,  over  which,  however,  he  has  breathed 
that  cast  of  thoughtfulness  and  profound  feeling 
which,  in  the  midst  of  harmony  and  beauty,  is  like 
a  revelation  or  a  prophecy  of  sorrow.  All  the  rest 
of  what  is  recorded  concerning  the  life  and  death  of 
Giorgione  may  be  told  in  a  few  words.  Among  the 
painters  who  worked  with  him  was  Pietro  Luzzo,  of 
Feltri,  near  Venice,  known  in  the  history  of  art  as 
Morta  da  Feltri,  and  mentioned  by  Vasari  as  the  in- 
ventor, or  rather  reviver,  of  arabesque  painting  in 
the  antique  style,  which  he  had  studied  amid  the 
dark  vaults  of  the  Roman  ruins.  This  Morto,  as 
Ridolfi  relates,  was  the  friend  of  Giorgione,  and  lived 
under  the  same  roof  with  him.  He  took  advantage 
of  Giorgione 's  confidence  to  seduce  and  carry  off 
from  his  house  a  girl  whom  he  passionately  loved. 
Wounded  doubly  by  the  falsehood  of  his  mistress 
and  the  treachery  of  his  friend,  Giorgione  sank  into 
despair,  and  soon  afterwards  died,  at  the  early  age  of 
thirty- three.  Morto  da  Feltri  afterwards  fled  from 
Venice,  entered  the  army,  and  was  killed  at  the  bat- 
tle of  Zara,  in  1519.  Such  is  the  Venetian  tradition. 

Giorgione's  genuine  pictures  are  very  rarely  to 
be  met  with  ;  of  those  ascribed  to  him  the  greater 
number  were  painted  by  Pietro  della  Vecchia,  a 
Venetian,  who  had  a  peculiar  talent  for  imitating 
Giorgione's  manner  of  execution  and  style  of  color. 
These  imitations  deceive  picture-dealers  and  collect- 


314 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


ors  :  they  could  not  for  one  moment  deceive  those 
who  had  looked  into  the  feeling  impressed  on  Gior- 
gione's  works.  The  only  picture  which  could  have 
imposed  on  the  true  lover  of  Giorgione  is  that  in  the 
possession  of  Lord  Francis  Egerton,  the  Four  Ages, 
by  Titian,  in  which  the  tone  of  sentiment  as  well  as 
the  manner  of  Giorgione  are  so  happily  imitated 
that  for  many  years  it  was  attributed  to  him.  It 
was  painted  by  Titian  when  he  was  the  friend  and 
daily  companion  of  Giorgione,  and  under  the  imme- 
diate influence  of  his  feelings  and  genius. 

We  may  divide  the  undoubted  and  existing  pic- 
tures of  Giorgione  into  three  classes. 

I.  The  historical  subjects,  which  are  very  uncom- 
mon ;  such  seem  to  have  been  principally  confined 
to  his  frescoes,  and  have  mostly  perished.  Of  the 
few  which  remain  to  us,  the  most  famous  is  a  pic- 
ture in  the  Brera  at  Milan,  the  Finding  of  Moses. 
It  may  be  called  rather  a  romantic  and  poetical  ver- 
sion than  an  historical  representation  of  the  scene. 
It  would  shock  Sir  Gardner  Wilkinson.  In  the 
centre  sits  the  princess  under  a  tree ;  she  looks 
with  surprise  and  tenderness  on  the  child,  which 
is  brought  to  her  by  one  of  her  attendants.  The 
squire  or  seneschal  of  the  princess,  with  knights 
and  ladies,  stand  around  ;  on  one  side  two  lovers 
are  seated  on  the  grass  ;  on  the  other  are  musicians 
and  singers,  pages  with  dogs.  All  the  figures  are 
in  the  Venetian  costume  ;  the  coloring  is  splendid, 
and  the  grace  and  harmony  of  the  whole  composi- 


GIORGIONE. 


315 


tion  is  even  the  more  enchanting  from  the  nawetf 
of  the  conception.  This  picture,  like  many  others 
of  the  same  age  and  style,  reminds  us  of  those  poems 
and  tales  of  the  middle  ages,  in  which  David  and 
Jonathan  figure  as  "  preux  chevaliers,"  and  Sir 
Alexander  of  Macedon  and  Sir  Paris  of  Troy  fight 
tournaments  in  honor  of  ladies'  eyes  and  the 
"blessed  Virgin."  They  must  be  tried  by  their 
own  aim  and  standard,  not  by  the  severity  of  anti- 
quarian criticism. 

In  the  Academy  of  Venice  is  preserved  another 
historical  picture,  yet  more  wildly  poetical  in  con- 
ception. It  commemorates  a  fact — a  dreadful  tem- 
pest which  occurred  in  1340,  and  threatened  to  over- 
whelm the  whole  city  of  Venice.  In  Giorgione's 
picture  the  demons  are  represented  in  an  infernal 
bark  exciting  the  tempest,  while  St.  Mark,  St.  Nich- 
olas, and  St.  George,  the  patron  saints  of  Venice, 
seated  in  a  small  vessel  tossed  amid  the  waves,  op- 
pose with  spiritual  arms  the  powers  of  hell,  and 
prevail  against  them. 

In  our  National  Gallery  there  is  a  small  histori- 
cal picture,  the  death  of  Peter,  the  Dominican  friar 
and  inquisitor,  called  St.  Peter  the  Martyr,  who  waa 
assassinated.  This  picture  is  not  of  much  value, 
and  a  very  inferior  work  of  the  master. 

Sacred  subjects  of  the  usual  kind  were  so  seldom 
painted  by  Giorgione,  that  there  are  not  perhaps 
half  a  dozen  in  existence. 

II.  There  is  a  class  of  subjects  which  Giorgione 


316 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


represented  with  peculiar  grace  and  felicity.  They 
are  in  painting  what  idyls  and  lyrics  are  in  poetry, 
and  seem  like  direct  inventions  of  the  artist's  own 
mind,  though  some  are  supposed  to  be  scenes  from 
Venetian  tales  and  novels  now  lost.  These  gener- 
ally represent  groups  of  cavaliers  and  ladies  seated 
in  beautiful  landscapes  under  the  shade  of  trees, 
conversing  or  playing  on  musical  instruments. 
Such  pictures  are  not  unfrequent,  and  have  a  par- 
ticular charm,  arising  from  the  union  of  melan- 
choly feeling  with  luxurious  and  festive  enjoyment, 
and  a  mysterious  allegorical  significance  now  only 
to  be  surmised.  In  the  collection  of  Lord  North- 
wick,  at  Cheltenham,  there  is  a  most  charming  pic- 
ture in  this  style,  and  in  the  possession  of  Mr. 
Cunningham  there  is  another.  To  this  class  may 
also  be  referred  the  exquisite  pastoral  group  of 
Jacob  and  Rachel,  in  the  Dresden  Gallery. 

III.  His  portraits  are  magnificent.  They  have 
all,  with  the  .strongest  resemblance  to  general  na- 
ture, a  grand  ideal  cast ;  for  it  was  in  the  character 
of  the  man  to  idealize  everything  he  touched.  Very 
few  of  his  portraits  are  now  to  be  identified.  Among 
the  finest  and  most  interesting  may  be  mentioned  his 
own  portrait  in  the  Munich  Gallery,  which  has  an 
expression  of  the  profoundest  melancholy.  In  the 
Imperial  Gallery  at  Vienna  —  rich  in  his  works  — 
there  is  a  picture  representing  a  young  man  crowned 
with  a  garland  of  vine-leaves ;  another  comes  behind 
him  with  a  concealed  dagger,  and  appears  to  watch 


GIORGIONE. 


317 


the  moment  to  strike.  The  expression  in  the  two 
heads  can  never  be  forgotten  by  those  who  have 
looked  on  them.  The  fine  portrait  of  a  cavalier, 
with  a  page  riveting  his  armor,  is  well  known.  It 
is  in  the  possession  of  the  Earl  of  Carlisle,  and 
6tyled,  without  much  probability,  Gaston  de  Foix. 
A  beautiful  little  full-length  figure  in  armor,  now 
in  the  collection  of  Mr.  Rogers,  bears  the  same 
name,  and  is  probably  a  study  for  a  St.  Michael  or 
a  St.  George.  Lord  Byron  has  celebrated  in  some 
beautiful  lilies  the  impression  made  on  his  mind  by 
a  picture  in  the  Manfrini  Palace,  at  Venice ;  but 
the  poet  errs  in  styling  it  the  "  portraits  of  his  son, 
and  wife,  and  self."  Giorgione  never  had  either 
son  or  wife.  The  picture  alluded  to  represents  a 
Venetian  lady,  a  cavalier,  and  a  page,  —  portraits, 
evidently,  but  the  names  are  unknown. 

The  striking  characteristic  of  all  Giorgione's  pic- 
tures, whether  portraits,  ideal  heads,  or  composi- 
tions, is  the  ineffaceable  impression  they  leave  on 
the  memory — the  impression  of  reality.  In  the  ap- 
parent simplicity  of  the  means  through  which  this 
effect  is  produced,  the  few  yet  splendid  colors,  the 
vigorous  decision  of  touch,  the  depth  and  tenderness 
of  the  sentiment,  they  remind  us  of  the  old  religious 
music  to  which  we  have  listened  in  the  Italian 
churches  —  a  few  simple  notes,  long  sustained,  deli- 
ciously  blended,  swelling  into  a  rich,  full,  and  per- 
fect harmony,  and  melting  into  the  soul. 

Though  Giorgione  left  no  scholars,  properly  bo 


318  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


called,  he  had  many  imitators,  and  no  artist  of  hi* 
time  exercised  a  more  extensive  and  long-felt  influ- 
ence. He  diffused  that  taste  for  vivid  and  warm 
color  which  we  see  in  contemporary  and  succeeding 
artist-,  and  he  tinged  with  his  manner  and  feeling 
the  whole  Venetian  school.  Among  those  who  were 
inspired  by  this  powerful  and  ardent  mind,  may  ho 
mentioned  Sebastian  del  Piombo,  of  whom  some  ac- 
count has  already  been  given  (see  p.  220)  ;  Jacopo 
Palma,  called  Old  Palma,  b.  1518,  d.  1548  ;  Paris 
Bordone,  b.  1500,  d.  1570 ;  Pordenone,  b.  148G,  d. 
1540  ;  and,  lastly,  Titian,  the  great  representative 
of  the  Venetian  school.  The  difference  between 
Giorgione  and  Titian,  as  colorists,  seems  to  be  this, 
that  the  colors  of  Giorgione  appear  as  if  lighted  up 
from  within,  and  those  of  Titian  as  if  lighted  from 
without.  The  epithet  fiery  or  glowing  would  apply 
to  Giorgione  ;  the  epithet  golden  would  express  the 
predominant  hues  of  Titian. 


TITIAN. 


Born  1477,  died  1576. 

Tiziano  Vecelli  was  born  at  Cadore  in  the  Fri- 
uii,  a  district  to  the  north  of  Venice,  where  the 
kncient  family  of  the  Vecelli  had  been  long  settled. 
There  is  something  very  amusing  and  characteristic 
in  the  first  indication  of  his  love  of  art ;  for  while 
it  is  recorded  of  other  young  artists  that  they  took 
a  piece  of  charcoal  or  a  piece  of  slate  to  trace  the 
images  in  their  fancy,  we  are  told  that  the  infant 
Titian,  with  an  instinctive  feeling  prophetic  of  his 
future  excellence  as  a  color ist,  used  the  expressed 
juice  of  certain  flowers  to  paint  a  figure  of  a  Ma- 
donna. When  he  was  a  boy  of  nine  years  old  his 
father,  Gregorio,  carried  him  to  Venice  and  placed 
him  under  the  tuition  of  Sebastian  Zuccato,  a 
painter  and  worker  in  mosaic.  He  left  this  school 
for  that  of  the  Bellini,  where  the  friendship  and 
fellowship  of  Giorgione  seems  early  to  have  awak- 
ened his  mind  to  new  ideas  of  art  and  color.  Al- 
bert Durer,  who  was  at  Venice  in  1494,  and  again 
in  1507,  also  influenced  him.  At  this  time,  when 
Titian  and  Giorgione  were  youths  of  eighteen  and 
nineteen,  they  lived  and  worked  together.  It  has 
been  already  related  that  they  were  employed  in 

(319) 


320 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


painting  the  frescoes  of  the  Fondaco  dei  Tedeschi. 
The  preference  being  given  to  Titian's  performance, 
which  represented  the  story  of  Judith,  caused  such 
a  jealousy  between  the  two  friends,  that  they  ceased 
to  reside  together  ;  but  at  this  time,  and  for  some 
years  afterwards,  the  influence  of  Giorgione  on  the 
mind  and  the  style  of  Titian  was  such  that  it  be- 
came difficult  to  distinguish  their  works  ;  and  on 
the  death  of  Giorgione,  Titian  was  required  to 
complete  his  unfinished  pictures.  This  great  loss 
to  Venice  and  the  world  left  him  in  the  prime  of 
youth  without  a  rival.  We  find  him  for  a  few 
years  chiefly  employed  in  decorating  the  palaces  of 
the  Venetian  nobles,  both  in  the  city  and  on  the 
mainland.  The  first  of  his  historical  compositions 
which  is  celebrated  by  his  biographers  is  the  Pre- 
sentation of  the  Virgin  in  the  Temple,  a  large  pic- 
ture, now  in  the  Academy  of  Arts  at  Venice  ;  and 
the  first  portrait  recorded  is  that  of  Catherine, 
Queen  of  Cyprus,  of  which  numerous  repetitions 
and  copies  were  scattered  over  all  Italy.  There  is 
a  fine  original  in  the  Dresden  Gallery.  This  un- 
happy Catherine  Cornaro,  the  "  daughter  of  St. 
Mark,"  having  been  forced  to  abdicate  her  crown 
in  favor  of  the  Venetian  state,  was  at  this  time 
living  in  a  sort  of  honorable  captivity  at  Venice. 
She  had  been  a  widow  for  forty  years,  and  he  has 
represented  her  in  deep  mourning,  holding  a  rosary 
in  her  hand  —  the  face  still  bearing  traces  of  that 
beauty  for  which  she  was  celebrated 


TITIAN. 


321 


It  appears  that  Titian  was  married  about  1512, 
but  of  his  wife  we  do  not  hear  anything  more.  It 
is  said  that  her  name  was  Lucia,  and  we  know 
that  she  bore  him  three  children —  two  sons,  and  a 
daughter  called  Lavinia.  It  seems  probable,  on  a 
comparison  of  dates,  that  she  died  about  the  year 
1530. 

One  of  the  earliest  works  on  which  Titian  was 
engaged  was  the  decoration  of  the  convent  of  St. 
Antony,  at  Padua,  in  which  he  executed  a  series  of 
frescoes  from  the  life  of  St.  Antony.  He  was  next 
summoned  to  Ferrara  by  the  Duke  Alphonso  I., 
and  was  employed  in  his  service  for  at  least  two 
years.  He  painted  for  this  prince  the  beautiful 
picture  of  Bacchus  and  Ariadne,  which  is  now  in 
our  National  Gallery,  and  which  represents  on  a 
small  scale  an  epitome  of  all  the  beauties  which 
characterize  Titian,  in  the  rich,  picturesque,  ani- 
mated composition,  in  the  ardor  of  Bacchus,  who 
flings  himself  from  his  car  to  pursue  Ariadne  ;  the 
dancing  bacchanals,  the  frantic  grace  of  the  bac- 
chante, and  the  little  joyous  satyr  in  front,  trailing 
the  head  of  the  sacrifice.  He  painted  for  the  same 
prince  two  other  festive  subjects  :  one  in  which  a 
nymph  and  two  men  are  dancing,  while  another 
nymph  lies  asleep  ;  and  a  third,  in  which  a  number 
of  children  and  cupids  are  sporting  round  a  statue 
of  Venus.  There  are  here  upwards  of  sixty  figures 
in  every  variety  of  attitude,  some  fluttering  in  the 
air,  some  climbing  the  fruit-trees,  some  shooting 
21 


322  EAxlLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


arrows,  or  embracing  each  other.  This  picture  la 
known  as  the  Sacrifice  to  the  Goddess  of  Fertility. 
While  it  remained  in  Italy  it  was  a  study  for  the 
first  painters,  —  for  Poussin,  the  Carracci,  Albano, 
and  Fiamingo  the  sculptor,  so  famous  for  his  models 
of  children.*  At  Ferrara,  Titian  also  painted  the 
portrait  of  the  first  wife  of  Alphonso,  the  famous 
and  infamous  Lucrezia  Borgia  ;  and  here  also  he 
formed  a  friendship  with  the  poet  Ariosto,  whose 
portrait  he  painted. 

At  this  time  he  was  invited  to  Rome  by  Leo  X., 
for  whom  Raphael,  then  in  the  zenith  of  his 
powers,  was  executing  some  of  his  finest  works.  It 
is  curious  to  speculate  what  influence  these  two 
distinguished  men  might  have  exercised  on  each 
other  had  they  met ;  but  it  was  not  so  decreed. 
Titian  was  strongly  attached  to  his  home  and  his 
friends  at  Venice  ;  and  to  his  birthplace,  the  little 
town  of  Cadore,  he  paid  an  annual  summer  visit. 
His  long  absence  at  Ferrara  had  wearied  him  of 
courts  and  princes ;  and,  instead  of  going  to  Rome 
to  swell  the  luxurious  state  of  Leo  X. ,  he  returned 
to  Venice  and  remained  there  stationary  for  the 
next  few  years,  enriching  its  palaces  and  churches 
with  his  magnificent  works.  These  were  so  numer* 
ous  that  it  would  be  in  vain  to  attempt  to  give  an 
account  even  of  those  considered  as  the  finest  among 

*  These  two  pictures  are  now  at  Madrid.  A  good  copy  of  the 
last  used  to  hang  in  the  dark  at  Hampton  Court,  and  has  been 
lately  removed  to  Windsor. 


TITIAN. 


323 


them.  Two,  however,  must  be  pointed  out  as  pre- 
eminent in  beauty  and  celebrity.  First,  the  As- 
sumption of  the  Virgin,  painted  for  the  church  of 
Santa  Maria  de'  Frari,  and  now  in  the  Academy  of 
the  Fine  Arts  at  Venice,  and  well  known  from  the 
magnificent  engraving  of  Schiavone  —  the  Virgin  is 
soaring  to  heaven  amid  groups  of  angels,  while  the 
apostles  gaze  upwards;  and,  secondly,  the  Death 
of  St.  Peter  Martyr  when  attacked  by  assassins  at 
the  entrance  of  a  wood  ;  the  resignation  of  the 
prostrate  victim  and  the  ferocity  of  the  murderer, 
the  attendant  flying  "  in  the  agonies  of  cowardice," 
with  the  trees  waving  their  distracted  boughs  amid 
the  violence  of  the  tempest,  have  rendered  this  pic- 
ture famous  as  a  piece  of  scenic  poetry  as  well  as 
of  dramatic  expression. 

The  next  event  of  Titian's  life  was  his  journey  to 
Bologna  in  1530.  In  that  year  the  Emperor 
Charles  V.  and  Pope  Clement  VII.  met  at  Bologna, 
each  surrounded  by  a  brilliant  retinue  of  the  most 
distinguished  soldiers,  statesmen,  and  scholars,  of 
Germany  and  Italy.  Through  the  influence  of  his 
friend  Aretino,  Titian  was  recommended  to  the 
Cardinal  Ippolito  de'  Medici,  the  pope's  nephew, 
through  whose  patronage  he  was  introduced  to  the 
two  potentates  who  sat  to  him.  One  of  the  por- 
trait of  Clement  VII.,  painted  at  this  time,  is  now 
in  the  Bridgewater  Gallery.  Charles  V.  was  so 
satisfied  with  his  portrait,  that  he  became  the  zeal- 
ous friend  and  patron  of  the  painter.    It  is  not  pre- 


824 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS 


cisely  known  which  of  several  portraits  of  the 
emperor  painted  by  Titian  was  the  one  executed  at 
Bologna  on  this  memorable  occasion,  but  it  is  sup- 
posed to  be  that  which  represents  him  on  horseback 
charging  with  his  lance,  now  in  the  Royal  Gallery 
at  Madrid,  and  of  which  Mr.  Rogers  possesses  the 
original  study.  The  two  portraits  of  Ippolito  de' 
Medici  in  the  Pitti  Palace  and  the  Louvre  were  also 
painted  at  this  period. 

After  a  sojourn  of  some  months  at  Bologna, 
Titian  returned  to  Venice  loaded  with  honors  and 
rewards.  There  was  no  potentate,  prince,  or  poet, 
or  reigning  beauty,  who  did  not  covet  the  honor 
of  being  immortalized  by  his  pencil.  He  had,  up  to 
this  time,  managed  his  worldly  affairs  with  great 
economy  ;  but  now  he  purchased  for  himself  a  house 
opposite  to  Murano,  and  lived  splendidly,  combin- 
ing with  the  most  indefatigable  industry  the  liveli- 
est enjoyment  of  existence  ;  his  favorite  companions 
Were  the  architect  Sansovino  and  the  witty  profli- 
gate Pietro  Aretino.  Titian  has  often  been  re- 
proached with  his  friendship  for  Aretino,  and 
nothing  can  be  said  in  his  excuse,  except  that  the 
proudest  princes  in  Europe  condescended  to  flatter 
and  caress  this  unprincipled  literary  ruffian,  who 
was  pleased  to  designate  himself  as  the  "  friend  of 
Titian,  and  the  scourge  of  princes."  One  of  the 
finest  of  Titian's  portraits  is  that  of  Aretino,  in  the 
Munich  Gallery. 

Thus  in  the  practice  of  his  art,  in  the  society  of 


TITIAN. 


325 


his  friends,  and  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  pleasurefi 
of  life,  did  Titian  pass  several  years.  The  only 
painter  of  his  time  who  was  deemed  worthy  of  com- 
peting with  him  was  Licinio  Regillo,  better  known 
as  Pordenone.  Between  Titian  and  Pordenone 
there  existed  not  merely  rivalry,  but  a  personal 
hatred,  so  bitter  that  Pordenone  affected  to  think 
his  life  in  danger,  and  when  at  Venice  painted  with 
his  shield  and  poniard  lying  beside  him.  As  long 
as  Pordenone  lived,  Titian  had  a  spur  to  exertion, 
to  emulation.  All  the  other  good  painters  of  the 
time,  Palma,  Bonifazio,  Tintoretto,  were  his  pupils 
or  his  creatures  ;  Pordenone  would  never  owe  any- 
thing to  him  ;  and  the  picture  called  the  St.  Jus- 
tina,  at  Vienna,  shows  that  he  could  equal  Titian 
on  his  own  ground. 

After  the  death  of  Pordenone  at  Ferrara,  in  1539, 
Titian  was  left  without  a  rival.  Everywhere  in 
Italy  art  was  on  the  decline :  Lionardo,  Raphael, 
Correggio,  had  all  passed  away.  Titian  himself, 
at  the  age  of  sixty,  was  no  longer  young,  but  he 
still  retained  all  the  vigor  and  the  freshness  of 
youth  ;  neither  eye  nor  hand,  nor  creative  energy 
of  mind,  had  failed  him  yet.  He  was  again  invited 
to  Ferrara,  and  painted  there  the  portrait  of  the 
old  pope  Paul  III.  He  then  visited  Urbino,  where 
he  painted  for  the  duke  the  famous  Venus  which 
hangs  in  the  Tribune  of  the  Florence  Gallery,  and 
many  other  pictures.  He  again,  by  order  of  Charles 
V.,  repaired  to  Bologna,  and  painted  the  emperor,. 


325  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 

standing  and  by  his  side  a  favorite  Irish  wolf-dog. 
This  picture  was  given  by  Philip  IV.  to  ouf 
Charles  I.,  but  after  his  death  was  sold  into  Spain, 
and  is  now  at  Madrid. 

Pope  Paul  III.  invited  him  to  Rome,  whither  he 
repaired  in  1548.  There  he  painted  that  wonder- 
ful picture  of  the  old  pope  with  his  two  nephews, 
the  Duke  Ottavio  and  Cardinal  Farnese,  which  is 
now  at  Vienna.  The  head  of  the  pope  is  a  miracle 
of  character  and  expression.  A  keen-visaged,  thin 
little  man,  with  meagre  fingers  like  birds^-claws, 
and  an  eager  cunning  look,  riveting  the  gazer  like 
the  eye  of  a  snake  —  nature  itself !  —  and  the  pope 
had  either  so  little  or  so  much  vanity  as  to  be  per- 
fectly satisfied.  He  rewarded  the  painter  munifi- 
cently ;  he  even  offered  to  make  his  son  Pomponio 
Bishop  of  Ceneda,  which  Titian  had  the  good  sense 
to  refuse.  While  at  Rome  he  painted  several  pic- 
tures for  the  Farnese  family,  among  them  the 
Venus  and  Adonis,  of  which  a  repetition  is  in  our 
National  Gallery,  and  a  Danae  which  excited  the 
admiration  of  Michael  Angelo.  At  this  time  Titian 
was  seventy-two. 

He  next,  by  command  of  Charles  V.,  repaired  tc 
Augsburgh,  where  the  emperor  held  his  court : 
eighteen  years  had  elapsed  since  he  first  sat  to 
Titian,  and  he  was  now  broken  by  the  cares  of  gov- 
ernment, —  far  older  at  fifty  than  the  painter  at 
seventy-two.  It  was  at  Augsburgh  that  the  inci- 
dent occurred  which  has  been  so  often  related  • 


TITIAN. 


327 


Titian  dropped  his  pencil,  and  Charles,  taking  it  up 
and  presenting  it,  replied  to  the  artist's  excuses 
that  "  Titian  was  worthy  of  being  served  by  Caesar. " 
This  pretty  anecdote  is  not  without  its  parallel  in 
modern  times.  When  Sir  Thomas  Lawrence  was 
painting  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  as  he  stooped  to  place 
a  picture  on  his  easel,  the  Emperor  of  Russia  anti- 
cipated him,  and,  taking  it  up,  adjusted  it  himself ; 
but  we  do  not  hear  that  he  made  any  speech  on  the 
occasion.  When  at  Augsburgh,  Titian  was  en- 
nobled and  created  a  count  of  the  empire,  with  a 
pension  of  two  hundred  gold  ducats,  and  his  son 
Pomponio  was  appointed  canon  of  the  cathedral  of 
Milan.  After  the  abdication  and  death  of  Charles 
V.,  Titian  continued  in  great  favor  with  his  suc- 
cessor Philip  II.,  for  whom  he  painted  several  pic- 
tures. It  is  not  true,  however,  that  Titian  visited 
Spain.  The  assertion  that  he  did  so  rests  on  the 
sole  authority  of  Palomino,  a  Spanish  writer  on 
art,  and,  though  wholly  unsupported  by  evidence, 
has  been  copied  from  one  book  into  another.  Later 
researches  have  proved  that  Titian  returned  from 
Augsburgh  to  Venice  ;  and  an  uninterrupted  series 
of  letters  and  documents,  with  dates  of  time  and 
place,  remain  to  show  that,  with  the  exception  of 
this  visit  to  Augsburgh  and  another  to  Vienna,  he 
resided  constantly  in  Italy,  and  principally  at 
Venice,  from  1530  to  his  death.  Notwithstanding 
the  compliments  and  patronage  and  nominal  re- 
wards he  received  from  the  Spanish  court,  Titian 


828 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS 


was  worse  off  under  Philip  II.  than  he  had  been 
under  Charles  V. :  his  pension  was  constantly  in 
arrears  ;  the  payments  for  his  pictures  evaded  by 
the  officials ;  and  we  find  the  great  painter  con- 
stantly presenting  petitions  and  complaints  in 
moving  terms,  which  always  obtained  gracious  but 
illusive  answers.  Philip  II.,  who  commanded  the 
riches  of  the  Indies,  was  for  many  years  a  debtor  to 
Titian  for  at  least  two  thousand  gold  crowns ;  and 
his  accounts  were  not  settled  at  tLe  time  of  his 
death.  For  our  Queen  Mary  of  England,  who 
wished  to  patronize  one  favored  oy  her  husband, 
Titian  painted  several  pictures,  souie  of  which  were 
in  the  possession  of  Charles  I. ;  others  had  been 
carried  to  Spain  after  the  death  of  Mary,  and  are 
now  in  the  Royal  Gallery  at  Maarid. 

Besides  the  pictures  painted  by  command  for 
royal  and  noble  patrons,  Titian,  who  was  unceas- 
ingly occupied,  had  always  a  great  number  of  pic- 
tures in  his  house  which  he  presented  to  his  friends, 
or  to  the  officers  and  attendants  of  the  court,  as  a 
means  of  procuring  their  favor.  There  is  extant  a 
letter  of  Aretino,  in  which  he  describes  the  scene 
which  took  place  when  the  emperor  summoned  his 
favorite  painter  to  attend  the  court  at  Augsburgh. 
"  It  was,"  he  says,  "  the  most  flattering  testimony 
to  his  excellence  to  behold,  as  soon  as  it  was  known 
that  the  divine  painter  wa*  sent  for,  the  crowds  of 
people  running  to  obtain >  if  possible,  the  produc- 
tions of  his  art ;  and  h(w  they  endeavored  to  pui- 


TITIAN. 


chase  the  pictures,  great  and  small,  and  everything 
that  was  in  the  house,  at  any  price  ;  for  everybody 
eeems  assured  that  his  august  majesty  will  so  treat 
his  Apelles  that  he  will  no  longer  condescend  to 
exercise  his  pencil  except  to  oblige  him." 

Years  passed  on,  and  seemed  to  have  no  powei 
to  quench  the  ardor  of  this  wonderful  old  man. 
He  was  eighty-one  when  he  painted  the  Martyrdom 
of  St.  Laurence,  one  of  his  largest  and  grandest 
compositions.  The  Magdalen,  the  half-length 
figure  with  uplifted  streaming  eyes,  which  he  sent 
to  Philip  II.,  was  executed  even  later  ;  and  it  was 
not  till  he  was  approaching  his  ninetieth  year 
that  he  showed  in  his  works  symptoms  of  enfeebled 
powers  ;  and  then  it  seemed  as  if  sorrow  rather 
than  time  had  reached  him  and  conquered  him  at 
last.  The  death  of  many  friends,  the  companions 
of  his  convivial  hours,  left  him  "alone  in  his 
glory."  He  found  in  his  beloved  art  the  only 
refuge  from  grief.  His  son  Pomponio  was  still  the 
same  worthless  profligate  in  age  that  he  had  been 
in  youth.  His  son  Orazio  attended  upon  him  with 
truly  filial  duty  and  affection,  and  under  his 
father's  tuition  had  become  an  accomplished  artist ; 
but  as  they  always  worked  together,  and  on  the 
game  canvas,  his  works  are  not  to  be  distinguished 
from  his  father's.  Titian  was  likewise  surrounded 
by  painters  who,  without  being  precisely  his  schol- 
ars, had  assembled  from  every  part  of  Europe  to 


'6*60  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTEKo. 

profit  by  his  instructions.*  The  early  morning  and 
the  evening  hour  found  him  at  his  easel  ;  or  linger- 
ing in  his  little  garden  (where  he  had  feasted  with 
Aretino  and  Sansovino,  and  Bembo  and  Ariosto, 
and  ' 4  the  most  gracious  Virginia,"  and  "  the  most 
beautiful  Violante"),  and  gazing  on  the  setting 
sun,  with  a  thought  perhaps  of  his  own  long  and 
bright  career  fast  hastening  to  its  close  ;  —  not  that 
such  anticipations  clouded  his  cheerful  spirit,  — 
buoyant  to  the  last !  In  1574,  when  he  was  in  his 
ninety-seventh  year,  Henry  III.  of  France  landed 
at  Venice  on  his  way  from  Poland,  and  was  mag- 
nificently entertained  by  the  Republic.  On  this 
occasion  the  king  visited  Titian  at  his  own  house, 
attended  by  a  numerous  suite  of  princes  and  nobles. 
Titian  entertained  them  with  splendid  hospitality  ; 
and  when  the  king  asked  the  price  of  some  pictures 
which  pleased  him,  he  presented  them  as  a  gift  to 
his  majesty,  and  every  one  praised  his  easy  and 
noble  manners  and  his  generous  bearing. 

Two  years  more  passed  away,  and  the  hand  did 
not  yet  tremble  nor  was  the  eye  dim.  When  the 
plague  broke  out  in  Venice,  in  1576,  the  nature  of 
the  distemper  was  at  first  mistaken,  and  the  most 
common  precautions  neglected ;  the  contagion 
spread,  and  Titian  and  his  son  were  among  those 
who  perished.    Every  one  had  fled,  and  before  life 

*  It  seems,  however,  generally  admitted  that  Titian,  either  from 
Impatience  or  jealousy,  or  both,  was  a  very  bad  instructor  in  hia 
art. 


TITIAN. 


331 


was  extinct  some  ruffians  entered  his  chamber  and 
carried  off,  before  his  eyes,  his  money,  jewels,  and 
some  of  his  pictures.  His  death  took  place  on  the 
9th  of  September,  1575.  A  law  had  been  made  dur- 
ing the  plague  that  none  should  be  buried  in  the 
churches,  but  that  all  the  dead  bodies  should  be  car- 
ried beyond  the  precincts  of  the  city ;  an  exception, 
however,  even  in  that  hour  of  terror  and  anguish, 
was  made  in  favor  of  Titian.  His  remains  were 
borne  with  honor  to  the  tomb,  and  deposited  in  the 
church  of  Santa  Maria  de'  Frari,  for  which  he  had 
painted  his  famous  Assumption.  There  he  lies  be- 
neath a  plain  black  marble  slab,  on  which  is  simply 
inscribed 

"  TIZIANO  VECELLIO." 

In  the  year  1794  the  citizens  of  Venice  resolved 
to  erect  a  noble  and  befitting  monument  to  hia 
memory.  Canova  made  the  design  ;  —  but  the 
troubles  which  intervened,  and  the  extinction  of 
the  Republic,  prevented  the  execution  of  this 
project.  Canova 's  magnificent  model  was  appro- 
priated to  another  purpose,  and  now  forms  the 
cenotaph  of  the  Archduchess  Christina,  in  the 
church  of  the  Augustines  at  Vienna. 

This  was  the  life  and  death  of  the  famous  Titian. 
Ho  was  preeminently  the  painter  of  nature ;  but  to 
him  nature  was  clothed  in  a  perpetual  garb  of 
beauty,  or  rather  to  him  nature  and  beauty  were 
one.  In  historical  compositions  and  sacred  subjects 


332 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


he  has  been  rivalled  and  surpassed,  but  as  a  por- 
trait painter  never ;  and  his  portraits  of  celebrated 
persons  have  at  once  the  truth  and  the  dignity  of 
history.  It  would  be  in  vain  to  attempt  to  give 
any  account  of  his  works  ;  numerous  as  they  are, 
not  all  that  are  attributed  to  him  in  various  gal- 
leries are  his.  Many  are  by  Palma,  Bonifazio,  and 
others  his  contemporaries,  who  imitated  his  manner 
with  more  or  less  success.  As  almost  every  gallery 
in  Europe,  public  and  private,  contains  pictures 
attributed  to  him,  we  shall  not  attempt  to  enu- 
merate even  the  acknowledged  chefs  d'ceuvre.  It 
will  be  interesting,  however,  to  give  some  account 
of  those  of  his  works  contained  in  our  national  and 
royal  galleries.  In  our  National  Gallery  there  are 
five,  of  which  the  Bacchus  and  Ariadne,  the  Venus 
and  Adonis,  and  the  Ganymede,  are  fair  examples 
of  his  power  in  the  poetical  department  of  his  art. 
But  we  want  one  of  his  inestimable  portraits.  In 
the  gallery  at  Hampton  Court  there  are  seven  or 
eight  pictures  attributed  to  him,  most  of  them  in 
a  miserably  ruined  condition.  The  finest  of  these 
is  a  portrait  of  a  man  in  black,  with  a  white  shirt 
seen  above  his  vest  up  to  his  throat ;  in  his  right 
hand  a  red  book,  his  fore-finger  between  the  leaves. 
It  is  called  in  the  old  catalogues  Alessandro  de' 
Medici,  and  has  been  engraved  under  the  name 
of  Boccaccio  ;  *  but  it  has  no  pretensions  to  either 

*  The  engraving,  which  is  most  admirable,  was  executed  by  Cor- 
Ofilius  Vischer  when  the  picture  was  in  Holland,  in  the  possession 


TITIAN. 


333 


name.  It  is  a  wonderful  piece  of  life.  There  is 
also  a  lovely  figure  of  a  standing  Lucretia,  about 
half  Jife-size,  with  very  little  drapery  —  not  at  all 
characteristic  of  the  modest  Lucretia,  who  arranged 
her  robes  that  she  might  fall  with  decorum.  She 
holds  with  her  left  hand  a  red  veil  over  her  face, 
and  in  the  right  a  dagger  with  which  she  is  about 
to  stab  herself.  This  picture  belonged  to  Charles 
I.,  and  came  to  England  with  the  Mantua  Gallery, 
in  1629  ;  it  was  sold  in  1650,  after  the  king's 
death,  for  two  hundred  pounds  (a  large  price  foi 
the  time),  and  afterwards  restored.  In  the  collec- 
tion at  Windsor  there  are  the  portraits  of  Titian 
and  Andrea  Franceschini,  half-length,  in  the  same 
picture.  Franceschini  was  Chancellor  of  the  Re* 
public,  and  distinguished  for  his  literary  attain* 
ments  ;  he  is  seen  in  front  in  a  robe  of  crimson 
(the  habit  of  a  cavaliero  of  St.  Mark),  and  holds  a 
paper  in  his  hand.  The  acute  and  refined  features 
have  that  expression  of  mental  power  which  Titian, 
without  any  apparent  effort,  could  throw  into  a 
head.  The  fine  old  face  and  flowing  beard  of  Titian 
appear  behind.  This  picture  belonged  to  Charles 
I. ,  and  was  sold  after  his  death  for  one  hundred 
and  twelve  pounds  ;  it  has  been  called  in  various 
catalogues  Titian  and  Aretino,  which  is  an  obvious 
mistake.     The  well-known  portraits  of  Aretino 

of  a  great  collector  of  that  time,  named  Van  Keynst  j  from  whom 
the  states  of  Holland  purchased  it  with  several  others,  and  pre* 
•ented  them  to  Charles  I. 


334  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 

have  all  a  full  beard  and  thick  lips,  a  physiog- 
nomy quite  distinct  from  that  of  the  Venetian  sen- 
ator in  this  picture,  which  is  identical  with  the 
engraved  portraits  of  Franceschini. 

Id  the  Louvre  there  are  twenty-two  pictures  by 
Titian  ;  in  the  Vienna  Gallery,  fifty-two.  The 
Madrid  Gallery  contains  most  of  the  fine  pictures 
painted  for  Charles  V.  and  Philip  II. 

Before  we  quit  the  subject  of  Titian,  we  may 
remark  that  a  collection  of  his  engraved  portraits 
would  form  a  complete  historical  gallery,  illustra- 
tive of  the  times  in  which  he  lived.  Not  only  was 
his  art  at  the  service  of  princes  and  their  favorite 
beauties,  but  it  was  ever  ready  to  immortalize  the 
features  of  those  who  were  the  objects  of  his  own 
affection  and  admiration.  Unfortunately,  it  was 
not  his  custom  to  inscribe  on  the  canvas  the  names 
of  those  who  sat  to  him.  Many  of  the  most  glori- 
ous heads  he  ever  painted  remain  to  this  hour  un- 
known. Amid  all  their  reality  (and  nothing  in 
painting  ever  so  conveyed  the  idea  of  a  presence), 
they  have  a  particular  dignity  which  strikes  us 
with  respect  ;  we  would  fain  interrogate  them, 
but  they  look  at  us  life-like,  grandly,  calmly,  like 
beings  of  another  world ;  they  seem  to  recognize  us 
and  we  can  never  recognize  them.  Only  we  feel 
the  certainty  that  just  as  they  now  look,  so  they 
lived  and  looked  in  long  past  times.  Such  a  por- 
trait is  that  in  the  Hampton  Court  gallery  ;  that 


TITIAN. 


335 


grave,  dark  man,  —  in  figure  and  attitude  so  tran- 
quil, so  contemplative,  but  in  his  eyes  and  on  his 
lips  a  revelation  of  feeling  and  eloquence.  And 
such  a  picture  is  that  of  the  lady  in  the  Sciarra 
Palace  at  Rome,  called  expressively  "  Titian's  Bella 
Donna."  It  has  no  other  name,  but  no  one  ever 
looked  at  it  without  the  wish  to  carry  it  away  ;  and 
no  anonymous  portrait  has  ever  been  so  multiplied 
by  copies.  But,  leaving  these,  we  will  subjoin  here 
a  short  list  of  those  great  and  celebrated  person- 
ages who  are  known  to  have  sat  to  Titian,  and 
whose  portraits  remain  to  us,  a  precious  legacy, 
and  forming  the  truest  commentary  on  their  lives, 
deeds,  and  works. 

Charles  V.  :  Titian  painted  this  Emperor  several 
times,  with  and  without  his  armor.  He  has  always 
a  grave,  even  melancholy  expression  ;  very  short 
hair  and  beard  ;  a  large,  square  brow  ;  and  the  full 
lips  and  projecting  under-jaw,  which  became  a  de- 
formity in  his  descendants. 

His  wife,  the  Empress  Isabella,  holding  flowers  in 
her  hand. 

Philip  II.  :  like  his  father,  but  uglier,  more  mel- 
ancholy, less  intellectual.  The  Duke  of  Devonshire 
has  a  fine  full-length ,  in  rich  armor.  There  is  a  very 
good  one  at  Florence  in  the  Pitti  Palace ;  and  another 
at  Madrid.  In  the  Fitzwilliam  Museum,  at  Cam- 
bridge, is  the  picture  called  ' '  Philip  II.  and  the  Prin- 
cess Eboli,"  of  which  there  are  several  repetitions. 


S36  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


Francis  I. :  half-length,  in  profile ;  now  in  thw 
Louvre.  Titian  did  not  paint  this  king  from  nature, 
but  from  a  medal  which  was  sent  to  him  to  copy. 

The  Emperor  Ferdinand  I. 

The  Emperor  Rudolph  II. 

The  Sultan  Solyman  II.  His  wife  Roxana.  These 
are  engraved  after  Titian,  but  from  what  originals 
we  know  not.    They  cannot  be  from  nature. 

The  Popes  Julius  II.  (doubtful),  Clement  VII., 
Paul  III.,  and  Paul  IV. 

All  the  Doges  of  Venice  of  his  time. 

Francesco,  Duke  of  Urbino,  and  his  Duchess  Ele 
onora ;  two  wonderful  portraits,  now  in  the  Florenco 
Gallery. 

The  Cardinal  Ippolito  de'  Medici ;  in  the  Louvre, 
and  in  the  Pitti  Palace. 

The  Constable  de  Bourbon. 

The  famous  and  cruel  Duke  of  Alva 

Andrea  Doria,  Doge  of  Genoa. 

Ferdinand  Leyva,  who  commanded  at  the  battle 
of  Pavia. 

Alphonso  d'Avalos,  in  the  Louvre. 

Isabella  d'Este,  Marchioness  of  Mantua. 

Alphonso,  Duke  of  Ferrara,  and  his  first  wife, 
Lucrezia  Borgia.  In  the  Dresden  Gallery  there  is 
a  picture  by  Titian,  in  which  Alphonso  is  present- 
ing his  wife  Lucrezia  to  the  Madonna. 

Csesar  Borgia. 

Catherine  Cornaro,  Queen  of  Cyprus. 


TITIAN. 


33? 


The  Poet  Ariosto  :  in  the  Manfrini  Palace,  at 
Venice. 
Bernardo  Tasso. 

Cardinal  Bembo.  Cardinal  Sforza.  Cardinal 
Farnese. 

Count  Castiglione. 

Pietro  Aretino  :  several  times  ;  the  finest  is  at 
Florence  ;  another  at  Munich.  The  engravings,  by 
Bonasone,  of  Aretino  and  Cardinal  Bembo,  rank 
among  the  most  exquisite  works  of  art.  There  are 
impressions  of  both  in  the  British  Museum. 

Sansovino,  the  famous  Venetian  architect. 

The  Cornaro  family :  in  the  possession  of  the  Duke 
of  Northumberland. 

Fracastaro,  a  famous  Latin  poet. 

Irene  da  Spilemborgo,  a  young  girl  who  had  dis- 
tinguished herself  as  a  musician,  a  poetess,  and  to 
whom  Titian  himself  had  given  lessons  in  painting. 
She  died  at  the  age  of  eighteen. 

Andrea  Vesalio,  who  has  been  called  the  father 
of  anatomical  science  —  the  particular  friend  of 
Titian,  and  his  instructor  in  anatomy.  He  was 
accused  falsely  of  having  put  a  man  to  death  for 
anatomical  purposes,  and  condemned.  Philip  II., 
unwilling  to  sacrifice  so  accomplished  a  man  to 
mere  popular  prejudice,  commuted  his  punishment 
to  a  forced  pilgrimage  to  the  Holy  Land.  He 
obeyed  the  sentence  ;  but  on  his  return  he  was 
wrecked  on  the  island  of  Zante,  and  died  there  of 
hunger  in  1564.  This  magnificent  portrait,  which 
22 


338  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


Titian  seems  to  have  painted  with  enthusiasm,  is  in 
the  Pitti  Palace  at  Florence. 

Titian  painted  several  portraits  of  himself,  but 
none  which  represent  him  young.  In  the  fine  por- 
trait at  Florence  he  is  about  fifty  ;  and  in  the  other 
known  representations  he  is  an  old  man,  with  an 
aquiline  nose,  and  long,  flowing  beard.  Of  his 
daughter  Lavinia  there  are  many  portraits.  She 
was  her  father's  favorite  model,  being  very  beau- 
tiful in  face  and  form.  In  a  famous  picture,  now 
at  Berlin,  she  is  represented  lifting  with  both  hands 
a  dish  filled  with  fruits.  There  are  four  repetitions 
of  this  subject :  in  one  the  fruits  are  changed  into 
a  casket  of  jewels  ;  in  another  she  becomes  the 
daughter  of  Herodias,  and  the  dish  bears  the  head 
of  John  the  Baptist.  All  are  striking,  graceful, 
full  of  animation. 

The  only  exalted  personage  of  his  time  and  coun- 
try whom  Titian  did  not  paint  was  Cosmo  I.,  Grand 
Duke  of  Florence.  In  passing  through  Florence,  in 
1548,  Titian  requested  the  honor  of  painting  the 
Grand  Duke.  The  offer  was  declined.  It  is  worthy 
of  remark  that  Titian  had  painted,  many  years  be- 
fore, the  father  of  Cosmo,  Giovanni  de'  Medici,  the 
famous  captain  of  the  Bande  Neri. 


THE  VENETIAN  PAINTERS  OF  THE 
SIXTEENTH  CENTURY. 


TINTORETTO  PAUL  VERONESE  JACOPO  BASSANO. 

Titian  was  the  last  great  name  of  the  earlier 
schools  of  Italy  —  the  last  really  great  painter 
which  she  produced.  After  him  came  many  who 
were  good  artists,  excellent  artificers  ;  but,  com- 
pared with  the  heaven-endowed  creators  in  art, 
the  poet-painters  who  had  gone  before  them,  they 
were  mere  mechanics,  the  best  of  them.  No  more 
Raphaels,  no  more  Titians,  no  more  Michael  Ange- 
los,  before  whom  princes  stood  uncovered !  but  very 
good  painters,  bearing  the  same  relation  to  their 
wondrous  predecessors  that  the  poets,  wits,  and 
playwrights,  of  Queen  Anne's  time,  bore  to  Shak- 
speare.  There  was,  however,  an  intervening  period 
between  the  death  of  Titian  and  the  foundation  of 
the  Caracci  school,  a  sort  of  interregnum,  during 
which  the  art  of  painting  sank  to  the  lowest  depths 
of  labored  inanity  and  inflated  mannerism.  In  the 
middle  of  the  sixteenth  century  Italy  swarmed  with 
painters.  These  go  under  the  general  name  of  the 
manneritis,  because  they  all  imitated  the  manner  of 

(339) 


340  EARLY  ITALIAF  PAINTERS. 


some  one  of  the  great  masters  who  had  gone  befcro 
them.  There  were  imitators  of  Michael  Angelo, 
of  Raphael,  of  Correggio  :  — Vasari  and  Bronzino, 
at  Florence  ;  the  two  brothers  Taddeo  and  Federigo 
Zuccaro,  and  the  Cavalier  d'Arpino,  at  Rome ; 
Federigo  Barroccio,  of  Urbino  ;  Luca  Cambiasi,  of 
Genoa  ;  and  hundreds  of  others,  who  covered  with 
frescoes  the  walls  of  villas,  palaces,  churches,  and 
produced  some  fine  and  valuable  pictures,  and 
many  pleasing  and  graceful  ones,  and  many  more 
that  were  mere  vapid  or  exaggerated  repetitions  of 
worn-out  subjects.  And  patrons  were  not  wanting, 
nor  industry,  nor  science  ;  nothing  but  original  ard 
elevated  feeling,  — ' 6  the  inspiration  and  the  poet'i 
dream. " 

But  in  the  Venetian  school  still  survived  this  in- 
spiration, this  vital  and  creative  power,  when  it 
seemed  extinct  everywhere  besides.  From  1540  to 
1590  the  Venetians  were  the  only  painter s  worthy 
the  name  in  Italy.  This  arose  from  the  elementary 
principle  early  infused  into  the  Venetian  artists,  — 
the  principle  of  looking  to  Nature,  and  imitating 
her,  instead  of  imitating  others  and  one  another. 
Thus,  as  every  man  who  looks  to  Nature  looks  at 
her  through  his  own  eyes,  a  certain  degree  of  indi- 
viduality was  retained  even  in  the  decline  of  the 
art.  There  were  some  who  tried  to  look  at  Nature 
in  the  same  point  of  view  as  Titian,  and  these  are 
generally  included  under  the  general  denomination 


TINTORETTO. 


341 


of  the  School  of  Titian,  though  in  fact  he  had  no 
school  projcerly  so  called. 

Morone  was  a  portrait  painter  who  in  some  of 
his  heads  equalled  Titian.  We  have  in  England 
only  one  known  picture  by  him,  but  it  is  a  master- 
piece, —  the  portrait  of  a  Jesuit,  in  the  gallery  of 
the  Duke  of  Sutherland,  which  for  a  long  time 
went  by  the  name  of  Titian's  Schoolmaster.  It 
represents  a  grave,  acute-looking  man,  holding  a 
book  in  his  hand,  which  he  has  just  closed  ;  his 
finger  is  between  the  leaves,  and,  leaning  from  his 
chair,  he  seems  about  to  address  you. 

The  very  life  is  warm  upon  that  lip, 
The  fixture  of  the  eye  has  motion  in't, 
And  we  are  mocked  by  art ! 

Bonifazio,  who  had  studied  under  Palma  and 
Titian,  painted  many  pictures  which  are  fre- 
quently attributed  to  both  these  masters.  Superior 
to  Bonifazio  was  Alessandro  Bonvicino,  by  whom 
there  are  several  exquisite  pictures  in  tho  Milan 
Gallery. 

Andrea  Schiavone,  whose  elegant  pictures  are 
often  met  with  in  collections,  was  a  poor  boy,  who 
began  the  world  as  an  assistant  mason  and  house- 
painter,  and  who  became  an  artist  from  the  love  of 
art ;  but  by  some  fatality,  or  some  quality  of  mind 
which  we  are  wont  to  call  a  fatality,  he  remained 
always   poor.     He  painted  numerous  pictures 


342  EARLY  ITAIIAN  PAINTERS. 


which  others  obtained,  and  sold  again  for  high 
prices,  enriching  themselves  at  the  expense  of  his 
toil  of  hand  and  head.  At  length  he  died,  and  in 
such  wretched  circumstances  that  he  was  buried 
by  the  charity  of  a  few  friends.  In  general  the 
Venetian  painters  were  joyous  beings ;  Schiavono 
was  a  rare  and  melancholy  exception.  Very  differ 
ent  was  the  temper  and  the  fate  of  Paris  Bordone. 
of  Treviso,  a  man  without  much  genius,  weak  in 
drawing,  capricious  or  commonplace  in  invention, 
without  fire  or  expression,  but  a  divine  colorist,  and 
stamping  on  his  pictures  his  own  buoyant,  life- 
enjoying  nature ;  in  this  he  was  like  Titian,  but 
utterly  inferior  in  all  other  respects.  Some  of  his 
portraits  are  very  beautiful,  particularly  those  of 
his  women,  which  have  been  often  mistaken  for 
Titian's. 

The  elder  Palma  is  also  considered  as  a  scholar 
of  Titian,  though  deriving  as  little  from  his  per- 
sonal instruction  as  did  Tintoretto,  Bordone,  and 
others  of  the  school.  The  date  of  his  birth  has  been 
rendered  uncertain  by  the  mistakes  of  various 
authors,  who  confounded  the  elder  and  the  younger 
Palma;  but  it  appears  that  he  was  born  between 
1500  and  1515.  He  resembled  in  his  manner  both 
Titian  and  Giorgione.  In  some  pictures  he  has 
shown  the  dignity  of  Titian,  in  others  a  touch  of 
the  melancholy  sentiment  of  Giorgione.  But  not 
half  the  pictures  attributed  to  Palma  Vecchio  are 
by  him    We  have  not  one  in  our  National  Gallery ; 


TINTORETTO. 


343 


and  those  at  Hampton  Court  which  are  attributed 
to  him  are  not  genuine  —  mere  third-rate  pictures 
of  the  Venetian  school.  This  painter  had  three 
daughters  of  remarkable  beauty.  Violante,  the 
eldest  and  most  beautiful,  is  said  to  have  been 
loved  by  Titian,  and  to  be  the  original  of  some  of 
his  most  exquisite  female  portraits.  One  called 
Flora,  because  she  has  flowers  in  her  hand  ;  and 
another  in  the  Pitti  Palace,  in  a  rich  dress.  We 
have  the  three  daughters  of  Palma,  painted  by  him- 
self, in  the  Vienna  Gallery ;  one,  a  most  lovely 
creature,  with  long  light  brown  hair,  and  a  violet 
in  her  bosom,  is  without  doubt  Titian's  Violante. 
In  the  Dresden  Gallery  are  the  same  three  beautiful 
girls  in  one  picture,  the  head  in  the  centre  being 
the  Violante. 

It  remains  to  give  some  account  of  two  really 
great  men,  who  were  contemporaries  of  Titian,  but 
could  hardly  be  called  his  rivals,  his  equals,  or  his 
imitators.  They  were  both  inferior  to  him,  but 
original  men  in  their  different  styles. 

The  first  was  Tintoretto,  born  in  1512  ;  his  real 
name  was  Jacopo  Robusti.  His  father  was  a  dyer 
(in  Italian,  Tintore)  ;  hence  he  received  in  childhood 
the  diminutive  nickname  II  Tintoretto,  by  which  he 
is  best  known  to  us.  He  began,  like  many  other 
painters  whose  genius  we  have  recorded,  by  draw- 
ing all  kinds  of  objects  and  figures  on  the  walls  of 
his  father's  house.  The  dyer,  being  a  man  of  sense, 


344  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS 


did  not  attempt  to  oppose  his  son's  predilection  for 
art,  but  procured  for  him  the  best  instruction  his 
means  would  allow,  and  even  sent,  him  to  study 
under  Titian.  This  did  not  avail  him  much,  for 
that  most  excellent  painter  was  by  no  means  a  good 
instructor,  and  it  is  said  that  he  became  jealous  of 
the  progress  of  Tintoretto,  or  perhaps  required 
more  docility.  Whatever  might  be  the  cause,  he 
expelled  him  from  his  academjr,  saying,  somewhat 
rashly,  that  "  he  would  never  be  anything  but  a 
dauber."  Tintoretto  did  not  lose  courage  ;  he  pur- 
sued his  studies,  and  after  a  few  years  set  up  an 
academy  of  his  own,  and  on  the  wall  of  his  paint- 
ing-room he  placed  the  following  inscription,  as 
being  expressive  of  the  principles  he  intended  to 
follow  :  "  II  disegno  di  Michael  Agnolo  :  il  colorito 
di  Tiziano  "  (the  drawing  of  Michael  Angelo,  and 
the  coloring  of  Titian) .  Tintoretto  was  a  man  of 
extraordinary  talent,  unequalled  for  the  quickness 
of  his  invention  and  the  facility  and  rapidity  of  his 
execution.  It  frequently  happened  that  he  would 
not  give  himself  the  trouble  to  make  any  design  or 
sketch  for  his  picture,  but  composed  as  he  went 
along,  throwing  his  figures  on  the  canvas  and  paint- 
ing them  in  at  once,  with  wonderful  power  and 
truth,  considering  the  little  time  and  pains  they 
cost  him.  But  this  want  of  study  was  fatal  to  his 
real  greatness.  He  is  the  most  unequal  of  painters. 
In  his  compositions  we  find  often  the  grossest 
faults  in  close  proximity  with  the  highest  beauty 


TINTORETTO. 


345 


tfow  he  would  paint  a  picture  almost  equal  to 
Titian  ;  then  produce  one  so  coarse  and  careless 
that  it  seemed  to  justify  Titian's  expression  of  a 
"  dauber.' '  He  abused  his  mechanical  power  by 
the  utmost  recklessness  of  pencil ;  but  then,  again, 
his  wonderful  talent  redeemed  him,  and  he  would 
enchant  his  fellow-citizens  by  the  grandeur,  the 
dramatic  vivacity,  the  gorgeous  colors,  and  the 
luxuriant  invention,  displayed  in  some  of  his  vast 
compositions.  The  larger  the  space  he  had  to  fill, 
the  more  he  seemed  at  home ;  his  small  pictures  are 
seldom  g<jod.  His  portraits  in  general  are  mag- 
nificent ;  less  refined  and  dignified  than  those  of 
Titian,  less  intellectual,  but  quite  as  full  of  life. 

Tintoretto  painted  an  amazing  number  of  pic- 
tures, and  of  an  amazing  size,  —  one  of  them  is 
seventy- four  feet  in  length  and  thirty  feet  in 
height.  One  edifice  of  his  native  city,  the  school 
of  St.  E-och,  contains  fifty-seven  large  compositions, 
each  containing  many  figures  the  size  of  life. 
The  two  most  famous  of  his  pictures  are,  a  Cruci- 
fixion, in  which  the  Passion  of  our  Saviour  is 
represented  like  a  vast  theatrical  scene,  crowded 
with  groups  of  figures  on  foot,  on  horseback,  ex- 
hibiting the  greatest  variety  of  movement  and  ex 
pression  ;  and  a  large  picture,  called  the  Miracle 
of  St.  Mark,  in  the  Academy  of  Venice,  of  which 
Mr.  Rogers  possesses  the  first  sketch  :  a  certain 
slave  having  become  a  Christian,  and  having  per- 
severed in  paying  his  devotions  at  the  shrine  of  St. 


346 


EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


Mark,  is  condemned  to  the  torture  by  his  heathen 
lord  ;  but  just  as  he  is  bound  and  prostrate,  St. 
Mark  descends  from  above  to  aid  his  votary  ;  the 
executioner  is  seen  raising  the  broken  instruments 
of  torture,  and  a  crowd  of  people  look  on  in  vari- 
ous attitudes  of  wonder,  pity,  interest.  The  whole 
picture  glows  with  color  and  movement. 

In  our  National  Gallery  we  have  only  one  small, 
unimportant  work  by  Tintoretto,  but  there  are  ten 
or  eleven  in  the  Royal  Galleries.  He  was  a  favor- 
ite painter  of  Charles  I.,  who  purchased  many  of 
his  works  from  Venice.  Two  pictures,  once  really 
fine,  which  belonged  to  this  king,  are  now  at 
Hampton  Court,  —  Esther  fainting  before  Ahasu- 
erus,  and  the  Nine  Muses.  They  have  suffered  ter- 
ribly from  audacious  restorers ;  but  in  this  last 
picture  the  figure  of  the  Muse  on  the  right,  turning 
her  back,  is  in  a  grand  style,  not  unworthy,  in  its 
large,  bold,  yet  graceful  drawing,  of  the  hand  of 
Michael  Angelo  himself.  In  the  same  collection 
are  three  very  fine  portraits. 

Tintoretto  died  in  1588.  His  daughter,  Marietta 
Robusti,  whose  talent  for  painting  was  sedulously 
cultivated  by  her  father,  has  left  some  excellent 
portraits  ;  and  in  her  own  time  obtained  such  celeb- 
rity that  the  Kings  of  France  and  Spain  invited 
her  to  their  courts  with  the  most  tempting  offers  of 
patronage,  but  she  would  never  leave  her  father 
and  her  native  Venice.  She  died  at  the  age  of 
thirty. 


PAUL  VERONESE. 


347 


Paul  Cajiliari  of  Verona,  better  known  as  Paul 
Veronese,  was  born  in  that  city  in  1530,  the  son 
of  a  sculptor,  who  taught  him  early  to  draw  and 
to  model ;  but  the  genius  of  the  pupil  was  so  dia- 
metrically opposed  to  this  style  of  art,  that  he  soon 
quitted  the  studio  of  his  father  for  that  of  his  uncle 
Antonio  Badile,  a  very  good  painter,  from  whom 
he  learned  that  florid  grace  in  composition  which 
he  afterwards  carried  out  in  a  manner  so  consum- 
mate and  so  characteristic.  At  that  time  Verona, 
like  all  the  other  cities  of  Italy,  could  boast  of  a 
crowd  of  painters  ;  and  Paul  Cagliari,  finding  that 
he  could  not  stand  against  so  many  competitors, 
repaired  to  Venice,  where  he  remained  for  some 
time,  studying  the  works  of  Titian  and  Tintoretti, 
but  without  attracting  much  attention  himself,  till 
he  had  painted,  in  the  church  of  St.  Sebastian,  the 
history  of  Esther.  This  was  a  subject  well  cal- 
culated to  call  forth  his  particular  talent  in  depict- 
ing the  gay  ;  the  sumptuous  accessories  of  courtly 
pomp,  banquet  scenes,  processions,  &c.  ;  and  from 
this  time  he  was  continually  employed  by  the 
splendor-loving  citizens  of  Venice,  who  delighted  in 
his  luxuriant  magnificence,  and  overlooked,  or  per- 
haps did  not  perceive,  his  thousand  sins  against 
fact,  probability,  costume,  time,  and  place.  We 
are  obliged  to  do  the  same  thing  in  these  days,  if 
we  would  duly  appreciate  the  works  of  this  aston- 
ishing painter.  We  must  shut  our  eyes  to  the  vio- 
lation of  all  proprieties  of  chronology  and  costume, 


348  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


and  see  only  the  abounding  life,  the  wondrous 
variety  of  dignified  and  expressive  figures  crowded 
into  his  scenes,  —  we  may  a  little  marvel  how  they 
got  there,  —  and  the  prodigality  of  light  and  colors, 
all  harmonized  by  a  mellowness  of  tone  which  ren- 
ders them  most  attractive  to  the  eye.  To  give  an 
idea  of  Paul  Veronese's  manner  of  treating  a  subject, 
we  will  take  one  of  his  finest  and  most  character- 
istic pictures,  the  Marriage  of  Cana,  which  was 
painted  for  the  Refectory  of  the  Convent  of  San 
Giorgio  at  Venice,  and  is  now  in  the  Louvre.  It  is 
not  less  than  thirty  feet  long  and  twenty  feet  high, 
and  contains  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  figures, 
life-size.  The  Marriage  Feast  of  the  Galilean  citi- 
zen is  represented  with  a  pomp  worthy  of  "  Ormuz 
cr  of  Ind  :  "  a  sumptuous  hall  of  the  richest  archi- 
tecture ;  lofty  columns,  long  lines  of  marble  balus- 
trades rising  against  the  sky ;  a  crowd  of  guests 
3plendidly  attired,  some  wearing  orders  of  knight* 
hood,  are  seated  at  tables  covered  with  gorgeous 
vases  of  gold  and  silver,  attended  by  slaves,  jesters, 
pages,  and  musicians.  In  the  midst  of  all  this 
dazzling  pomp,  this  display  of  festive  enjoyment, 
these  moving  figures,  these  lavish  colors  m  glowing 
approximation,  we  begin  after  a  while  to  distin- 
guish the  principal  personages, — our  Saviour,  the 
Virgin  Mary,  the  Twelve  Apostles,  mingled  with 
Venetian  senators,  and  ladies  clothed  in  the  rich 
costume  of  the  sixteenth  century, — monks,  friars, 
poets   artists,  all  portraits  of  personages  existing 


PAUL  VERONESE. 


349 


in  Ills  own  time  ;  while  in  a  group  of  musicians  he 
has  introduced  himself  and  Tintoretto  playing  the 
violoncello,  while  Titian  plays  the  bass.  The  bride 
m  this  picture  is  said  to  be  the  portrait  of  Eleanor 
of  Austria,  the  sister  of  Charles  V.,  and  second  wife 
of  Francis  I.,  of  whom  there  is  a  most  beautiful 
portrait  at  Hampton  Court.  There  is  a  series  of 
these  Scriptural  banquet-scenes,  painted  by  Paul 
Veronese,  all  in  the  same  extraordinary  style,  but 
varied  with  the  utmost  richness  of  fancy,  invention, 
and  coloring.  Christ  entertained  by  Levi,  now  in 
the  Academy  of  Venice  ;  the  Supper  in  the  house 
of  Simon  the  Pharisee,  with  Mary  Magdalen  at  the 
feet  of  our  Saviour,  now  in  the  Durazzo  Palace  at 
Genoa,  of  which  the  first  sketch,  a  magnificent  piece 
of  color,  is  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Rogers ;  and  the 
Supper  at  Emmaus,  in  which  he  has  introduced  his 
wife  and  others  of  his  family  as  spectators. 

Paul  Veronese  died  in  1588.  He  was  a  man  of 
amiable  manners,  of  a  liberal,  generous  spirit,  and 
extremely  pious.  When  he  painted  for  churches 
and  convents,  he  frequently  accepted  very  small 
prices,  sometimes  merely  the  value  of  his  canvas 
and  colors.  For  that  stupendous  picture  in  the 
Louvre,  the  Marriage  of  Cana,  he  received  not 
more  than  forty  pounds  of  our  money. 

He  painted  all  subjects,  even  the  most  solemn,  in 
the  same  gorgeous  style.  He  had  sons  and  rela- 
tions who  were  educated  in  his  atelier  and  assisted 
in  painting  his  great  pictures,  and  who  after  his 


SoO  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 

death  continued  to  carry  on  a  sort  of  manufactory 
of  pictures  in  the  same  magnificent  ornamental 
style  ;  but  they  were  far  inferior  painters,  and  had 
not,  like  him,  the  power  of  redeeming  gross  faults 
of  judgment  and  taste  by  a  vivid  imagination  and 
strong  feeling  of  character. 

Almost  all  galleries  and  collections  contain  speci- 
mens of  the  works  of  this  splendid  and  popular  paint- 
er ;  but  the  finest  are  in  the  churches  at  Venice,  in 
the  Louvre,  and  in  the  Dresden  Gallery,  where  there 
are  fifteen  of  his  pictures. 

In  our  National  Gallery  there  is  a  fine  picture  of 
the  Consecration  of  St.  Nicholas,  Bishop  of  Myra, 
in  1391.  The  principal  personages  are  very  nobly 
conceived,  and  the  foreshortened  figure  of  the  angel 
descending  above  the  kneeling  saint,  and  holding 
the  mitre  and  crosier,  explains  the  subject  in  a  man- 
ner at  once  very  poetical  and  very  intelligible.  The 
little  sketch  of  Europa  is  a  study  for  the  splendid 
picture  now  at  Vienna. 

Before  we  close  the  list  of  the  elder  painters  of 
Italy,  we  must  mention  as  flourishing  at  this  time 
the  Da  Ponte  family  of  Bassano.  Giacomo  da  Ponte, 
called  Old  Bassano,  was  the  head  of  it.  His  father 
had  been  a  painter  before  him,  and  he,  with  his 
four  sons,  Leandro,  Francesco,  Gian  Battista,  and 
Girolamo,  set  up  in  their  native  town  of  Bassano  a 
kind  of  manufactory  of  pictures,  which  were  sold  in 
the  fairs  and  markets  of  the  neighboring  cities,  and 
became  popular  all  over  the  north  of  Italy .  The  Bas- 


JACOPO  BASSANO. 


351 


sani  were  among  the  earliest  painters  of  the  genre 
style  ;  they  treated  sacred  and  solemn  subjects  in  a 
homely,  familiar  manner,  which  was  pleasing  and 
intelligible  to  the  people,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
with  a  power  of  imitation,  a  light  and  spirited  exe- 
cution, and  in  particular  a  gem-like  radiance  of 
color  which  fascinates  even  judges  of  art.  Thoro 
are  pictures  of  the  elder  Bassano  which  at  the  first 
glance  remind  one  of  a  handful  of  rubies  and  emer- 
alds. His  best  and  largest  works  are  at  Bassano ;  his 
small  pictures  are  numerous,  and  scattered  through 
most  galleries.  He  painted  sheep,  cattle,  and  poul- 
try well,  and  was  fond  of  introducing  them  in  the 
pastoral  scenes  of  the  Old  Testament,  where  they 
are  appropriate.  Sometimes,  unhappily,  where  they 
are  least  appropriate  they  are  the  principal  objects. 
His  scenery  and  grouping  have  a  rural  character  ; 
and  his  personages,  even  sacred  and  heroic,  look 
like  peasants.  They  are  not  vulgar,  but  rustic. 
The  same  kind  of  spirit  informed  the  Bassani  that 
afterwards  informed  the  Dutch  school  —  the  imita- 
tion of  familiar  objects  without  elevation  and  with- 
out selection  ;  but  the  nature  of  Italy  was  as  differ- 
ent from  that  of  Holland  as  Bassano  is  different  from 
Jan  Steen.  Like  all  the  Venetians,  the  Bassani  were 
good  portrait  painters.  We  have  a  fine  portrait  by 
Jacopo  Bassano  in  our  National  Gallery,  and  at 
Hampton  Court  several  very  fine  and  characteristic 
pictures,  which  will  give  an  excellent  idea  of  his 
general  manner.   The  best  are  Jacob's  Journey  and 


352  EARLY  ITALIAN  PAINTERS. 


the  Deluge.  Mr.  Rogers  possesses  the  two  best 
pictures  of  this  artist  now  in  England  ;  they  aro 
small,  but  most  beautiful,  vivid  as  gems  in  point  of 
color,  with  more  dignity  and  feeling  than  is  usual. 
The  subjects  are,  the  Good  Samaritan,  and  Lazarus 
at  the  door  of  the  Rich  Man.  Nothing  could  tempt 
Bassano  from  the  little  native  town  where  he  flour- 
ished, grew  rich,  and  brought  up  a  numerous  family. 
He  died  in  1592. 

All  these  men  had  original  genius  and  that  indi- 
viduality of  character  which  lends  a  vital  interest 
to  all  productions  of  art,  whether  the  style  be  ele- 
vated and  ideal  or  confined  to  the  imitation  of  com- 
mon nature  ;  but  to  them  succeeded  a  race  of  man- 
nerists and  imitators,  so  that  about  the  close  of  tha 
sixteenth  century  all  originality  seemed  extinguished 
at  Venice,  as  well  as  everywhere  else.  And  here  wq 
close  the  history  of  the  earlier  painters  of  Italy. 


c 


5    )  / 


